Health informatics program design and outcomes: Learning from an early offering at a mid-level university

Curriculum development is particularly challenging in computing-related disciplines as the computing industry changes more quickly than most. As information technology degrees have become relatively pervasive, some institutions that offer information systems degrees have recognized a need to develop specialist studies in information systems. This detailed case study shows the forces related to a successful implementation of new Health Informatics degrees. The case describes both an unsuccessful and then a successful attempt at essentially the same curriculum development. Although the case includes some local political factors, these represent typical considerations that a curriculum developer is likely to encounter.     

Linking Life and Literature in Early Childhood Settings

Using an example of a toddler’s developing understanding of an apple, this article illustrates how children integrate all elements in their interpersonal and built environments to support their emerging literacy skills. Otto (2007) and others provide evidence from emergent literacy research that documents observations and exploration by infants, toddlers, and young children and suggest that the ways in which children participate in early literature-related activities influence the knowledge they construct. Twenty-two children’s books—including five for apple discoverers—are recommended and reviewed.     

When is a Frog a Book or a Book a Frog?

During early childhood, children adopt a design-based conception of books with increasing consistency. It is not clear if or how young children spontaneously indentify the myriad of commercially produced, book-related props, toys, and other materials as support for their early literacy activities. Guidelines for evaluating these supplementary materials are presented and thirteen books are reviewed and recommended.     

Multidimensional Linking: Four Practical Approaches

This paper introduces and evaluates four practical multidimensional linking procedures that are based on the theoretical framework recently proposed by Davey, Oshima, and Lee (1996): (a) the Direct method, (b) the Equated Function method, (c) the Test Characteristic Function (TCF) method, and (d) the Item Characteristic Function (ICF) method. The evaluation was conducted using simulated data. As anticipated, the competing procedures yielded different linking parameter estimates. The TCF and ICF methods were found to be more stable and recovered the true linking parameters better than the other two methods. Furthermore, all procedures were found to be acceptable under almost any of the minimization criteria and offered dramatic improvement over not linking at all. It is recommended that the choice of a linking procedure should depend on the purpose of linking.