Back-ups for the future: archival practices for data activism

Literature on activist archiving theorises the power of recordkeeping to give voice to marginalised communities. However, missing from this archival literature are analyses about the political practice of preserving data as an act of grassroots resistance. Simultaneously, existing scholarly literature on grassroots data activism analyses the creation of new statistical representations to challenge official ones. This literature has largely ignored what will happen to this data over the long term, nor has it treated data archiving as an activist project in its own right. This theoretical article seeks to close the gap between literature on archival activism and literature on data activism, in hopes that both sets of research can draw productively from each other. There are clear affinities between activist archives and data activism: both address the failure by mainstream institutions to account for marginal voices, both have the power to make issues visible and legitimate within the public sphere, and both experiment with traditional forms of memory and statistical evidence. The authors believe that these two powerful forms of activity have much to learn from each other, particularly as the need to steward data over the long term will only grow.     

Headsprout® Early Reading for children with severe intellectual disabilities: a single blind randomised controlled trial

Research evaluating phonics reading programs for children with severe intellectual disabilities (ID) is limited. The current study investigated whether using an online reading program (Headsprout^® Early Reading; HER) as supplementary reading instruction for children with a severe ID leads to improvements in reading skills as compared to children not receiving this additional instruction. Fifty-five children from a special school were randomly allocated into the HER group or a waiting list control group. For six months, children in the intervention group received HER as supplementary instruction, whereas children in the control group received only ‘reading as usual’ teaching. Pre- and post-intervention tests on standardised reading measures were conducted. Analysis of data from outcome measures indicated that the HER group made improvements at post-intervention in comparison with the control group, with medium effect sizes on two domains from the main outcome measure. These results support the case for a larger research trial of HER for children with severe ID.     

Teamwork skills assessment for cooperative learning

Teamwork skills are required at work, but teacher efforts in many countries to track achievement within this context have been hindered by lack of assessment tools and input from students. The Teamwork Skills Inventory relies on peer and self-evaluation to establish accountability, identify competencies, and detect learning needs. Twenty-five items state the criteria students refer to in reporting observations about whether individual members of their cooperative learning group attend to teamwork, seek and share information, communicate with teammates, think critically and creatively, and get along with teammates. Ways to prepare students for authentic assessment and to process anonymous feedback from peers are discussed. A field test of 303 high school students and teachers determined validity and reliability. Students were able to recognize team skills as well as deficits of peers, and gender differences in competencies were acknowledged. A portfolio record of team skills enables teachers across subjects to apply united interventions.     

Children's Metacognition About Reading: issues in Definition,Measurement, and Instruction

Metacognition has become a popular term in theories of cognitive development and reading. What children know about the goals, tasks, and strategies of reading can influence how well they plan and monitor their own reading. Despite the appeal of metacognition and the emphasis on executive management of reading, there have been relatively few empirical studies that measure or promote children's metacognition about reading. This article briefly reviews some key studies of children's knowledge about reading and identifies some difficulties in defining and measuring metacognition. An Index of Reading Awareness (IRA) is offered as an informal assessment of metacognition derived from both theory and empirical data that can be used to measure children's understanding of reading comprehension processes. Data are presented illustrating that the instrument is sensitive to developmental and instructional differences in children's metacognition about reading. It is argued that the usefulness of the term metacognition depends on the development of both formal and informal tests of children's knowledge about reading and effective instruction that promotes metacognition.     

Un marco de referencia para una evaluación fiable de la lectoescritura

La evaluación del conocimiento y, especialmente, la de un proceso tan integrado en la cultura como la lectoescritura no deberían abordarse sólo desde y por los educadores, puesto que la funcionalidad de la lectoescritura se extiende más allá de las tareas escolares. Este artículo presenta un modelo experimentado de «lectoescritura global» y su evaluación, tanto por el ágil sistema de carpeta del educador como por sistemas más convencionales.     

Focused and aggregated search: a perspective from natural language generation

Users are often faced with complex information needs that are not easily represented as a single query. With current technology, the burden of issuing these individual queries, analysing retrieved documents for relevance, as well as aggregating results falls upon the time-poor and informationally overloaded user. Aggregated search techniques represent the new generation of search applications that endeavour to help users perform these complex tasks. However, the way in which different data types are combined in current aggregated search applications is often performed using static hard-coded structures. We suggest that a useful alternative is to marry techniques from natural language generation, such as text planning and summarisation, in order to dynamically determine the best organisation of retrieved information. These organisations can be motivated by linguistic theories that consider issues such as the role that the information plays to facilitate a task, and the relationships between different pieces of information. With reference to a discourse strategy, it is possible to draw on several data sources automatically to generate a useful, focused, and coherent answer. We focus on exploring the parallels between aggregated search and natural language generation in the hope that the fields can be mutually informed, leading to further advances in the way search technologies can better serve the user. These issues are discussed and presented with examples of existing systems across different domains.     

Assessment of Intergenerational Communication and Relationships

The revolution in communication technology has resulted in more age-segregated conversation among adolescents. In a similar way, older adults have increased online conversations with their peers. This article explores some obstacles that prevent the intergenerational connections needed for mutual understanding and care. Several research emphases are described that together define the complexity of intergenerational dialogue. The concerns provided for consideration include (a) age-segregated communication practices of adolescents and older adults, (b) willingness of older people to disclose personal opinions and feelings to younger people, (c) need for general adoption of the reciprocal learning concept to support harmony, (d) amount of time spent with adolescents as a predictor of parent and grandparent success, (e) learning expectations for later life that contribute to productive aging, and (f) recognition of the leadership role that adolescents should assume to reconnect the generations. Attitude and behavior change are recommended for older adults, adolescents, parents, educators, and school stakeholders.