Using Multidimensional Item Response Theory to Evaluate Educational and Psychological Tests

Many educational and psychological tests are inherently multidimensional, meaning these tests measure two or more dimensions or constructs. The purpose of this module is to illustrate how test practitioners and researchers can apply multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) to understand better what their tests are measuring, how accurately the different composites of ability are being assessed, and how this information can be cycled back into the test development process. Procedures for conducting MIRT analyses–from obtaining evidence that the test is multidimensional, to modeling the test as multidimensional, to illustrating the properties of multidimensional items graphically-are described from both a theoretical and a substantive basis. This module also illustrates these procedures using data from a ninth-grade mathematics achievement test. It concludes with a discussion of future directions in MIRT research.     

Documenting the world’s sociological literature:Sociological abstracts

Since its founding in 1953,Sociological Abstracts has abstracted and indexed the worldwide literature of sociology and the related social sciences. Growth and specialization within the field are reflected in the number of publications screened, the addition of new document types, the range of languages covered, and the increased specificity of indexing and classication.     

Australian PhDs by LIS educators, researchers and practitioners: Depicting diversity and demise

Analyses of more than 73,000 PhD thesis records in a comprehensive database of bibliographic records from all Australian universities from 1948 to 2006 demonstrate that PhDs on LIS-related topics reveal not only diversity of content, but also the diverse nature of the researcher's academic disciplines. This diversity includes researchers from within and outside LIS who bring to LIS–or take away–a variety of methods, approaches, theories and understandings. With 27 of Australia's 39 universities having produced LIS-related PhD graduates, the distribution through the Australian university system is evident and emphasizes the transferability of skills and knowledge which graduates bring to their work. It is possible that the diversity of researcher's disciplines, combined with the dangerously low numbers of LIS graduations, may also threaten the future of LIS research and education in Australia. Based on the findings of this study, the sustainability of LIS research and research training for the next generation in Australia is under threat.     

Overcoming problems in doctoral writing through the use of visualisations: telling our stories

Doctoral students experience many challenges on the long journey towards completion. Common problems include: synthesising data, working at a conceptual level, clarifying the relationship of the parts of the thesis to the whole, finding a voice and completing a viva successfully. Few authors have addressed the use of visualisations to meet these challenges. This paper focuses on the use of visualisations in doctoral writing. It presents narratives about seven ways that visualisations can help students to make breakthroughs in their writing, namely, as an organiser of the relationships of the parts of the thesis to the whole, a trigger for peer discourse, a vehicle for conceptual work, a metaphor to express key concepts, a trigger for professional development, a visual aid for the viva and as a prompt for freedrawing and freewriting.     

在线反思性交互的评估

交互是在线学习的关键要素，同(异)步交互工具可拓展教学交互的深度与广度，而科学、有效的评估能促进交互。本在比较多种异步交互评估方法后，以建构主义学习理论为基础，引用Simmons的反思性思维评价量规，详尽地描述了反思性交互的激励式评估在案例中的实施过程。     

Sustaining academic community in the aftermath of tragedy

Campus recovery from the shootings at Virginia Tech in April has, in part, been supported by a process of community building launched at the institution years ago.Terry Wildman, director of the Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, explains.