EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT SAMPLES ON ITEM AND TEST CHARACTERISTICS OF CRITERION-REFERENCED TESTS

Although many have rejected classical test construction and analysis procedures for criterion-referenced tests, the present study was concerned with the possibility that classical procedures are both applicable and appropriate when samples of both mastery and nonmastery examinees are employed. A rationale for using these samples was presented, and empirical evidence was gathered which supported the practice of combining samples to increase the variance of test scores and thereby permit the proper estimate of reliability and item validities.     

EFFECTS OF INCORPORATING HUMOR IN TEST ITEMS

Two matched forms of a 50 item multiple-choice grammar test were developed. Twenty items designed to be humorous were included in one form. Test forms were randomly assigned to 126 eighth graders who received the test plus alternate forms of a questionnaire. Inclusion of humorous items did not affect grammar scores on matched humorous/nonhumorous items nor on common post-treatment items, nor did inclusion affect results of anxiety measures. Students favored inclusion of humor on tests, judged effects of humor positively, and estimated humorous items to be easier. Humor did not lower performance but was sought by the students. Potential for more valid and humane measurement is discussed.     

EMPIRICAL COMPARISON OF SELECTED ITEM BIAS DETECTION PROCEDURES WITH BIAS MANIPULATION

Biased test items were intentionally imbedded within a set of test items, and the resulting instrument was administered to large samples of blacks and whites. Three popular item bias detection procedures were then applied to the data: (1) the three-parameter item characteristic curve procedure, (2) the chi-square method, and (3) the transformed item difficulty approach. The three-parameter item characteristic curve procedure proved most effective at detecting the intentionally biased test items; and the chi-square method was viewed as the best alternative. The transformed item difficulty approach has certain limitations yet represents a practical alternative if sample size, lack of computer facilities, or the like preclude the use of the other two procedures.     

The ARIADNE Project (Part 1): Knowledge Pools for Computer-based and Telematics-supported Classical,Open and Distance Education

ARIADNE is a concept of computer-based and telematics-supported educational schemes. It relies primarily on a number of interconnected knowledge pools and suitable strategies for using them, in academic education—either classical or at a distance—and for certain types of corporate continuing training. In ARIADNE, the term ‘knowledge pool’ refers to a large, indexed, storage of pedagogical elements and the set of tools, methodologies and infrastructures necessary for maintaining and exploiting it, to build and distribute structured curricula. This concept is meant to address the weaknesses of many ‘open’ training schemes advocating the usefulness of unlimited and free access to the World Wide Web (WWW). In our view, this immense—but scarcely structured— document repository can all too easily become a maze and offers, in itself, little incentive to serious learning. On the other hand, ARIADNE will use a WWW based net-interface, suitable for—and inter-operable with—most platforms commonly in use by would-be learners. ARIADNE addresses two categories of users: those who contribute to the knowledge pool system and develop training curricula (professors and pedagogical engineers) and those who may enlist in and follow these curricula (students and trainees). The system's design accounts for the need for collaboration and communication between (a) trainers, to create, customize, share and reuse pedagogical documents; (b) trainers and learners, for coaching/tutoring activities and supervision of learning; and (c) students/trainees, in peer-supported learning or group work. Long-term survival of any such technology-supported education system depends primarily on motivated participants: teachers and trainers, students and trainees, academic institutions and corporations should all find some practical advantage in its use. In this paper (Part 1), we present an overview of the ARIADNE concept, describing its pragmatic educational approach and its specific approach to authoring of pedagogical material and construction of usable curricula. In a forthcoming paper (Part 2), we will address its technological approach and present a brief review of the tools needed to implement the concept as a viable computer-based and telematics-supported distance—but also open or even classical— educational system.     

The ARIADNE Project (Part 2): Knowledge Pools for Computer-based and Telematics-supported Classical,Open and Distance Education

This paper presents the tools and methodologies underlying the ARIADNE framework for enabling open and distance education and for enhancing more conventional training schemes. The ARIADNE concept relies on a distributed knowledge pool system that stores pedagogically indexed educational resources, as well as on a set of tools and methodologies for authoring curricula. The basic approach is one of share and reuse. Specialized authoring tools are under development for the production of simulations, multiple-choice questionnaires and auto-evaluation exercises. Segmentation tools for video and text-based material, with integrated facilities for hypertext generation, are also under development. The distributed knowledge pool system consists of one central knowledge pool, and a number of local knowledge pools. Corporate training systems can also be built around private knowledge pools. Before pedagogical documents can be inserted into the knowledge pool system, their pedagogical and other characteristics must be described. A pedagogical header generator tool assists in this task. Pedagogical engineers can define the spatio-temporal, socio-pedagogic process that we call a curriculum, and choose the active and expositive documents that embody it, by using a curriculum editor. Finally, students consult or work with the documents of the curriculum they subscribed to, through a personalized view provided by the ARIADNE learner interface.     

Teaching Thinking, and the Sanctity of Content

There are renewed claims that thinking, or important aspects of it, should be conceived in terms of certain general powers, skills or competencies which should be taught as such. Some possibilities for confusion within this view are identified and it is argued that its undoubted attractions must be weighed against certain severe dangers, particularly with regard to how it may predispose us to conceive of content and its role in thinking. Some implications for teaching of a view of thinking that affirms the sanctity of content are sketched.