Global channels of evidence for learning and assessment in complex game environments

In this paper, we take a designer's look at how the activities and data of learning and assessment can be structured in immersive virtual game environments called Massively Multi‐Player Online Games (MMOG). In doing so, we examine the channels of evidence through which learning and assessment activities are derived in MMOGs, offering examples of how multiple evidence channels in operation through game‐based activities can be utilised to construct rich data trails for assessment.     

Design Decisions in Developing Learning Trajectories–Based Assessments in Mathematics: A Case Study

This article analyzes the design decisions of a team developing diagnostic assessments for a learning trajectory focused on rational number reasoning. The analysis focuses on the design rationale for key decisions about how to develop the cognitive assessments and related validity arguments within a fluid state and national policy context. The study draws on ethnographic methods adapted from science, technology, and society studies to document key rationales for decisions. For this team, concerns about the validity of both the assessments and the hypothetical trajectory, anticipated uses of the assessments, and the available distribution of resources and expertise to different project activities were all considerations for significant design decisions throughout the project. The study findings suggest that success in the design of trajectories-based assessments depends on teams’ attention to balancing core design activities with engagement in the external policy environment, balancing precision with utility for diagnosis in defining the levels of a trajectory, and balancing the goals of supporting and assessing student learning.     

The career development of black and white South African university students

This study investigates the possible influence of gender and culture on the career maturity and study and work role salience of South African students. Responses to the Life Role Inventory and Career Development Questionnaire of 260 first-year university students (137 white, 123 black) were analyzed. Culture was found to have a significant effect on both career maturity and study and work role salience while gender had no significant effect. Results are related to previous findings from international and South African literature. Implications for counselling are discussed.Paper presented at the International Round Table for the Advancement of Counselling Conference, held at the University of Oporto, Oporto, Portugal, 2–5 April 1991.     

The reconstruction of Palestinian education: between history,policy politics andpolicy making

This paper reflects on the key actors in education policy making in Zimbabwe. It looks at the contextual complexities that characterized policy-making in this country to make sense of the contestations that the state had to confront and accommodate. The policy network approach is employed as an analytical framework to clarify how, in particular non-state actors, have had an impact (or not) on educational governance through influences on policy. Policy documents, research reports and the reactions of non-state actors to these aspects are examined to explore the impact of the latter on policy making. The significant roles of the various policy networks are also given attention to establish how they have affected the reconfiguration of the state. The argument developed is that in spite of the ostensibly strong state, education policy formulation has been a product of compromise between policy networks and the predilections of those in office. As a political and contested enterprise it had to accommodate both local and international concerns.     

Isokinetic hamstrings-to-quadriceps peak torque ratio: the influence of sport modality, gender, and angular velocity

The purpose of this study was to determine differences in hamstrings-to-quadriceps (H/Q) peak torque ratios evaluated at different angular velocities between men and women who participate in judo, handball or soccer. A total of 166 athletes, including 58 judokas (26 females and 32 males), 39 handball players (22 females and 17 males), and 69 soccer players (17 females and 52 males), were evaluated using an isokinetic dynamometer. The H/Q isokinetic peak torque ratios were calculated at angular velocities of 1.05 rad · s?1 and 5.23 rad · s?1. In the analysis by gender, female soccer players produced lower H/Q peak torque ratios at 1.05 rad · s?1 than males involved in the same sport. However, when H/Q peak torque ratio was assessed at 5.23 rad · s?1, there were no significant differences between the sexes. In the analysis by sport, there were no differences among females at 1.05 rad · s?1. In contrast, male soccer players had significantly higher H/Q peak torque ratios than judokas (66 ± 12% vs. 57 ± 14%, respectively). Female handball players produced significantly lower peak torque ratios at 5.23 rad · s?1 than judokas or soccer players, whereas males presented no ratio differences among sports At 5.23 rad · s?1. In the analysis by velocity, women's muscular ratios assessed at 1.05 rad · s?1 were significantly lower than at 5.23 rad · s?1 for all sports; among men, only judokas presented lower ratios at 1.05 rad · s?1 than at 5.23 rad · s?1. The present results suggest that sport modality and angular velocity influence the isokinetic strength profiles of men and women.     

An NCME Instructional Module on Booklet Designs in Large-Scale Assessments of Student Achievement: Theory and Practice

In most large-scale assessments of student achievement, several broad content domains are tested. Because more items are needed to cover the content domains than can be presented in the limited testing time to each individual student, multiple test forms or booklets are utilized to distribute the items to the students. The construction of an appropriate booklet design is a complex and challenging endeavor that has far-reaching implications for data calibration and score reporting. This module describes the construction of booklet designs as the task of allocating items to booklets under context-specific constraints. Several types of experimental designs are presented that can be used as booklet designs. The theoretical properties and construction principles for each type of design are discussed and illustrated with examples. Finally, the evaluation of booklet designs is described and future directions for researching, teaching, and reporting on booklet designs for large-scale assessments of student achievement are identified.     

Course of depression and anxiety symptoms during the transition to parenthood for female adolescents with histories of victimization

The aim of the current study was to increase understanding of how victimization history impacts the longitudinal course of depression and anxiety in a sample of 55 adolescents emerging into parenthood. Adolescents were interviewed about their victimization experiences during their second trimester of pregnancy, and interviews were subsequently classified according the Maltreatment Classification Scale (Barnett, Manly, & Cicchetti, 1993). Adolescents reported on their symptoms of depression and anxiety prenatally and 6 and 12 months postpartum. Growth curve modeling revealed that, on average, there was a steady linear decline in depression and anxiety symptoms across the transition to parenthood, with a rate of change of 25% and 20%, respectively, from the prenatal assessment to 12 months postpartum. Sexual abuse history attenuated the likelihood of a decrease in depressive symptoms over time. Neglect history was associated with higher prenatal levels of anxiety, as well as a steeper decline in anxiety symptoms over time. Future research is needed to determine the role of poly-victimization in predicting the onset and change of depression and anxiety symptoms. Findings from the current study have the potential to aid in the design of preventative and intervention efforts to reduce risks of mental health difficulties in adolescent parents.     

At home,song, and fika – portraits of Swedish choral initiatives amidst the refugee crisis

ABSTRACT

With the unprecedented worldwide refugee crisis, to what extent can music play a role in welcoming? In particular, how does choral music have a role in mobilising communities, generating intercultural understanding, and lifting some of the barriers that confront refugees and asylum seekers? How can such activity be seen as a benefit to the welcomers rather than only the outsider others? The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to study how selected Swedish choral directors seek to include refugees into their choirs or musical groups. Additionally, the study seeks to understand how such efforts at inclusion are received, understood, and enacted. In other words, ‘What does it mean to refugees to sing choral music in a Swedish context, how is this perceived by the Swedish musical leaders, and how is this contextualized against Swedish government policy?’ We interview five Swedish choral directors and use the data to dig deeper into the multilayered and complex matter of welcoming refugees through community music. We contend that the work of these choral directors, as genuine acts of goodwill, is a powerful way to welcome new arrivals. However, the medium of the Western European choir may be culturally remote for refugees, and these initiatives may need new models of community music engagement.     

Information, cooperation, and the blurring of boundaries – technology transfer in German and American discourses

The aim of this paper is to examine changing discursive conceptualizations of technology transfer mechanisms for speeding up innovation in Germany and the US since World War II with particular emphasis on universities. According to our analysis, the concepts of technology transfer are getting more and more complex, taking off from a linear model of innovation to a more complex model allowing for networking and entrepreneurial activities of the universities themselves. We suggest that the discourses in both countries can be framed employing three ideal-typical models: the information and documentation model, the cooperation model, and the blurring of boundaries model. In addition to these similarities, we also discuss differences that can be traced back to broader political cultures in which technology transfer is embedded. Both similarities and differences allow for a comparative perspective which is not limited to the countries analyzed here.     

Cross-linguistic analysis of vocabulary in young children: spanish, dutch, French, hebrew, italian, korean, and american english

The composition of young children's vocabularies in 7 contrasting linguistic communities was investigated. Mothers of 269 twenty-month-olds in Argentina, Belgium, France, Israel, Italy, the Republic of Korea, and the United States completed comparable vocabulary checklists for their children. In each language and vocabulary size grouping (except for children just learning to talk), children's vocabularies contained relatively greater proportions of nouns than other word classes. Each word class was consistently positively correlated with every other class in each language and for children with smaller and larger vocabularies. Noun prevalence in the vocabularies of young children and the merits of several theories that may account for this pattern are discussed.