Learning strategies and self-regulation in context: how higher education students approach different courses,assessments, and challenges

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study’s aim was to analyse the decisions higher education students make about learning strategies. We focus on research questions related to...     

Standardization techniques for grade‐inflation problems at higher educational institutions of Ethiopia: the case of Addis Ababa

Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) is a measure that is used to display the achievement of college students in Ethiopia. It also serves as a key yardstick in career and scholarship assessment. In recent time there has been a rapid massification of higher educational institutions (HEIs). Many academics believe that the expansion has increased a tendency for grade inflation in Ethiopia. As an objective comparison of the quality of graduates from different HEIs is not easy, this study has attempted to discern the CGPA differentials across sample HEIs in Ethiopia and to derive a new standardization technique for their comparison. The study identifies different grading patterns, not only across college categories but also along various batches of HEIs. To generate the standardization technique, both CGPA and the ESLCE (Ethiopian School Leaving Certificate Examination) are employed to derive the Normalized Index. The index is used to adjust not only the inflated but also the deflated CGPAs. The quality of the index could be further improved by incorporating additional variables and also by validating the method over a large set of HEIs.     

Perceptions of a Chilly Climate: Differences in Traditional and Non-traditional Majors for Women

The purpose of this study was to examine how perceptions of a chilly climate differ between students in traditionally female-dominated majors (nursing and education) versus traditionally male-dominated majors (information technology and engineering), and how these perceptions relate to students’ intentions to persist or pursue higher education in their chosen field. Students (n = 403) attending a community college completed the 28-item Perceived Chilly Climate Scale (PCCS). The primary research question asked: To what extent can scores on the five subscales of the PCCS be explained by the predictor variable set of gender, ethnicity, age, college major, and intent to leave the field? Canonical correlation analysis indicated that women found the climate chillier than men, non-white students found the climate chillier than white students, younger students perceived the climate chillier than older students, and students in traditionally female-dominated majors perceived the climate chillier than students in traditionally male-dominated majors. Intent to leave the field was not a significant predictor of perceptions of chilly climate.     

A phenomenological exploration of children’s school life and well-being

Learning Environments Research - This phenomenological study explored children’s school life as it relates to their subjective well-being in the United States (N?=?22). It was...     

Evaluating Content-Related Validity Evidence Using a Text-Based Machine Learning Procedure

Validity evidence based on test content is critical to meaningful interpretation of test scores. Within high-stakes testing and accountability frameworks, content-related validity evidence is typically gathered via alignment studies, with panels of experts providing qualitative judgments on the degree to which test items align with the representative content standards. Various summary statistics are then calculated (e.g., categorical concurrence, balance of representation) to aid in decision-making. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach for gathering content-related validity evidence that capitalizes on the overlap in vocabulary used in test items and the corresponding content standards, which we define as textual congruence. We use a text-based, machine learning model, specifically topic modeling, to identify clusters of related content within the standards. This model then serves as the basis from which items are evaluated. We illustrate our method by building a model from the Next Generation Science Standards, with textual congruence evaluated against items within the Oregon statewide alternate assessment. We discuss the utility of this approach as a source of triangulating and diagnostic information and show how visualizations can be used to evaluate the overall coverage of the content standards across the test items.     

Rank-based self-training for graph convolutional networks

Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) have been established as a fundamental approach for representation learning on graphs, based on convolution operations on non-Euclidean domain, defined by graph-structured data. GCNs and variants have achieved state-of-the-art results on classification tasks, especially in semi-supervised learning scenarios. A central challenge in semi-supervised classification consists in how to exploit the maximum of useful information encoded in the unlabeled data. In this paper, we address this issue through a novel self-training approach for improving the accuracy of GCNs on semi-supervised classification tasks. A margin score is used through a rank-based model to identify the most confident sample predictions. Such predictions are exploited as an expanded labeled set in a second-stage training step. Our model is suitable for different GCN models. Moreover, we also propose a rank aggregation of labeled sets obtained by different GCN models. The experimental evaluation considers four GCN variations and traditional benchmarks extensively used in the literature. Significant accuracy gains were achieved for all evaluated models, reaching results comparable or superior to the state-of-the-art. The best results were achieved for rank aggregation self-training on combinations of the four GCN models.     

Journalism

THE AMERICAN JOURNALIST: A PORTRAIT OF U.S. NEWS PEOPLE AND THEIR WORK by David H. Weaver and G. Cleveland Wilhoit (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986—$25.00)

THE “UNCENSORED WAR:” THE MEDIA AND VIETNAM by Daniel C. Hallin (New York: Oxford, 1986—$22.50)

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SHOW: CAMPAIGN '84 AND BEYOND ON THE NIGHTLY NEWS by Keith Blume (Bergin & Garvey Publishers, 670 South Amherst Rd., South Hadley, MA 01075—$29.95/12.95)

POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN AMERICA by Robert E. Denton, Jr. and Gary C. Woodward (New York: Praeger, 1985—$42.95/15.95)

NEWS MEDIA AND PUBLIC POLICY: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY edited by Joseph P. McKerns (New York: Garland, 1985—$39.00)

COMMITTED JOURNALISM: AN ETHIC FOR THE PROFESSION by Edmund B. Lambeth (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986—$25.00/8.95)

SUING THE PRESS: LIBEL, THE MEDIA & POWER by Rodney A. Smolla (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986—$18.95)

WORLDLY POWER: THE MAKING OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL by Edward E. Scharff (Beaufort Books, 9 East 40th St., New York 10016—$18.95)

THE ULTIMATE INSIDERS: U.S. SENATORS IN THE NATIONAL MEDIA by Stephen Hess (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1986—price not given, cloth and paper)

THE FLACKS OF WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AND THE PUBLIC AGENDA by David Morgan (Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1986—$29.95)

ISSUES MANAGEMENT: CORPORATE POLICYMAKING IN AN INFORMATION SOCIETY by Robert L. Heath and Richard Alan Nelson (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1986—no price given)

BEHIND THE LINES: CASE STUDIES IN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING by Margaret Jones Patterson and Robert H. Russell (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986—$28.50)

GOVERNING THE PRESS: MEDIA FREEDOM IN THE U.S. AND GREAT BRITAIN by Deborah Holmes (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1986—$16.50, paper)

THE UNTAPPED POWER OF THE PRESS: EXPLAINING GOVERNMENT TO THE PEOPLE by Lewis W. Wolfson (New York: Praeger, 1985—$28.95/9/95)     

An innovative use of instant messaging technology to support a library's single-service point

A library service model that provides reference and instructional services by summoning reference librarians from a single service point is described. The system utilizes Libraryh3lp, an open-source, multioperator instant messaging system. The selection and refinement of this solution and technical challenges encountered are explored, as is the design of public services around this technology, usage of the system, and best practices. This service model, while a major cultural and procedural change at first, is now a routine aspect of customer service for this library.     

Maps & GIS Data Libraries in the Era of Big Data and Cloud Computing

In upcoming years, two major changes in the computing landscape will reshape how map and GIS data libraries (MGDLs) will be required to perform their core functions in the future. These advancements—cloud computing and the “Big Data era”—offer opportunities and challenges for libraries, but most dramatically changes. Commercial cloud computing solutions are available as on-demand service; low-cost, internal private clouds are now a financial possibility. Simultaneously, Geographic Information Science (GISci) data and services have advanced at an ever-increasing pace into the “Big Data,” swelling the types and amounts of GIS data and services available. These two shifts have and will impact the entire GIS world and MGDLs, in response, and will now be required to collect, curate, and make available more data and services than ever. The MGDL community must be prepared to respond and react in order to remain effective. This article explores the evolving landscapes within which MGDLs must operate and examines how their roles and operational organization will be impacted. The hope of the authors is that such analyses will spark community-driven discussion to motivate the next major phase of research and implementation in the world of MGDLs.