Grading ePortfolios: Tracing Two Approaches,Their Advantages,and Their Disadvantages

How does one grade an electronic portfolio? This question is one I have thought about, have enacted, and have written about, primarily in reference to ePortfolios used in writing classrooms (Yancey, McElroy, & Powers, 2013 Yancey, K. B., McElroy, S., & Powers, E. (2013). Composing, networks, and electronic portfolios: Notes toward a theory of assessing ePortfolios. In D. DeVoss & H. McKee (Eds.), Digital writing assessment and evaluation. Computers and composition. Logan, UT: Digital Press/Utah State University Press. [Google Scholar]). But what happens when the content and developmental levels are changed, in this case from an undergraduate first-year writing class to another required class, this one offered at the graduate level, Digital Revolution and Convergence Culture? Is using a scoring guide, the preferred approach in writing classes, the best approach in this new context? Or, following Moss, Girard, and Haniford (2006 Moss, P., Girard, B., & Haniford, L. (2006). Validity in educational assessment. Review of research in education 30, 109–162.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), could one use outcomes to “stage a conversation” around a student's ePortfolio; if so, what might a staged conversation look like? Or what might happen if instead of using outcomes as a framework, students themselves set the terms for that conversation? Here, I consider these options, attending especially to the importance of making good judgments and of fostering learning.     

Substance Abuse Policies in Long-Term Care Facilities: A Survey with Implications for Education of Long-Term Care Providers

The aging of the Baby Boom presents long-term care with many new challenges. Among these are the historically high levels of drug use by this cohort. This study surveyed administrators of licensed skilled nursing facilities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky regarding their perception of current drug use by residents, facility policies and procedures currently in place regarding illicit drug use, and their attitudes toward use of illicit drugs by residents. The results of interviews with 40 administrators or their designees revealed that they have experienced little problem with use or abuse of illegal drugs by residents. Fewer than one-third of the facilities had formal policies in place regarding illegal drug use. Only 10% had any experience with requests for medical marijuana, but almost one in five had a policy on the matter and nearly one-third stated they would support medical marijuana use by some of their residents if the matter arose. These authors recommend the following: (a) that the issue of illicit drug use needs to be addressed now before the situation becomes critical, (b) that administrators and staff need to be educated about recreational drug use and appropriate responses to drug abuse, (c) that screening instruments for drug abuse in this population should be developed and implemented, and (d) that policies regarding medical marijuana need to be adopted by all such facilities.     

Neoliberal common sense and race-neutral discourses: a critique of “evidence-based” policy-making in school policing

The author of this paper uses critical discourse analysis and draws on critical social theory and policy studies to analyze the interdiscursivity between neoliberal common sense discourses around crime and safety and race-neutral discourses, “evidence-based” policy, and the research that supports school policing programs. The author offers a macro-sociological analysis of how neoliberal common sense and race-neutral discourses shape crime policy. Next, the author discusses the rise of “evidence-based” policy formation. She argues that evidence-based policy serves to narrow the scope of what constitutes “scientific” research and delegitimize research that uses race as an analytical lens. Then, through textual analysis of samples of the “evidence” supporting school policing, the author illustrates the ways in which neoliberal common sense discourses around crime and safety and race-neutral discourses become the ideological starting point for the research and internalized within research documents. The result is the creation of a hegemonic “evidence-loop” that privileges ideologically driven research that assumes a “scientific” stance and obscures racial bias while it excludes the critical research on the school policing.     

Effects of single‐case reading interventions for students with and at‐risk of emotional and behavioral disorders in grades K–12: A quantitative synthesis

This study examined the effects of reading interventions from single‐case design studies for students with and at‐risk of emotional and behavioral disorders in grades K–12 using a quantitative synthesis. Seventeen studies met the selection criteria of having one more dependent variables meeting what works clearinghouse (WWC) design standards with or without reservations. Although students’ reading performance significantly improved from baseline to intervention phases (p < 0.001), the overall weighted average effect size was weak (Tau‐U = 0.58, 95% confidence interval = [0.54, 0.63]; d = 0.29); smaller effects were found on reading comprehension. Interventions were less effective for students in secondary grades, students with a comorbid disability, and students in substantially separate settings. While no studies meeting the selection criteria were conducted in inclusive settings, the teacher provided interventions were more effective than those provided by researchers suggesting the importance of the student–teacher relationship for reading instruction. Study limitations, areas for future research, and implications for school practices are discussed.     

Factors that influence teachers learning to do interviews to understand students' mathematical understandings

Understanding students' understanding of mathematical ideas can inform mathematics teaching, and task-based interviews are one way in which teachers can learn more about their students' understandings. The CIME project was designed to empower mathematics teachers to use interviews to understand their students' mathematical understandings as well as to prepare teachers to use technology-intensive curricula. This study examined the influences on three high school mathematics teachers as they learned to use task-based interviews to understand students' mathematical understandings. The areas of teacher knowledge and conceptions that influenced the teachers we studied were: teachers' mathematical understandings and knowledge of technology and the perceived importance of curriculum topics; teachers' views of knowing mathematics; teachers' perceptions of students' characteristics and needs; and teachers' perceptions of interviewing and the role of questioning in interviews. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Semantic networking: The new kid on the block

This article briefly describes the SemNet? software and some of its uses as an educational and research tool, with emphasis on the similarities and differences between concept mapping and semantic networking. A semantic network captures (in part) each concept's position in psychological space, identifying both the other concepts to which it is connected and the nature of the links that bind them. Computer-based semantic networks differ from paper-and-pencil maps in that they are n-dimensional; each concept can be linked to many other concepts; relations are bidirectional; representations can include images, text, and sound; and nets can be very large. Disadvantages of SemNet? networks include (a) the difficulties in obtaining a clear overview and (b) the homogeneous nature of the representations, in which all links look alike. Advantages include the ability to integrate ideas across a large knowledge base, the ease and rapidity of net creation, the ease with which elements (concepts, relations, or propositions) can be found within nets, and the utility of nets as self-study tools. Concept mapping and semantic networking are complementary strategies that can be used effectively in tandem to help students learn, to help teachers teach, and to support cognitive research.