ePortfolios,Badges, and the Whole Digital Self: How Evidence-Based Learning Pedagogies and Technologies Can Support Integrative Learning and Identity Development

Extensive research on student development and learning theory shows that the value of a college experience can be challenging to measure because its impact is not strictly academic, but holistic (e.g., Evans, Forney, & Guido-DiBrito, 1998). ePortfolio programs have been successfully implemented at many campuses as 1 way for students to collect, reflect, select, and project evidence of their learning across academic and cocurricular dimensions. This article explores several other promising models for implementing emerging evidence-based, digital technologies and pedagogies that can be used with ePortfolios to strategically inspire a holistic, digital sense of self in students.     

Using importance‐performance analysis to evaluate training

The importance‐performance analysis (IPA) is a tool that can provide timely and usable feedback to improve training. IPA measures the gaps between the importance and how “good” (performance) a class is perceived by a student and is presented on a 2x2 matrix. The quadrant in which data land in this matrix aids in determining potential future action. This article focuses on integrating IPA into Kirkpatrick's (1959) four‐level framework of evaluation. Examples and suggestions for improving training are discussed.     

A progression in first-grade children’s thinking about variable and variable notation in functional relationships

Recent research suggests that children in elementary grades have some facility with variable and variable notation in ways that warrant closer attention. We report here on an empirically developed progression in first-grade children’s thinking about these concepts in functional relationships. Using learning trajectories research as a framework for the study, we developed and implemented an instructional sequence designed to foster children’s understanding of functional relationships. Findings suggest that young children can learn to think in sophisticated ways about variable quantities and variable notation. This challenges assumptions that young children are not “ready” for a study of such concepts and raises the question of whether difficulties adolescents exhibit might be ameliorated by an earlier introduction to these ideas.     

Accuracy in direct behavior rating is minimally impacted by completion latency

Direct behavior ratings (DBRs) have been proposed as an efficient method to assess student behavior in the classroom due to their relative ease of administration compared to alternative methods like systematic direct observation. DBRs are considered low‐inference assessments of behavior because they are designed to be completed immediately following a specified observation period of student behavior; however, in practice it is common for teachers and other respondents to delay completion of a DBR until they are reminded to do so. It is unclear what effect, if any, this latency between observation and DBR completion has on rater accuracy. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of completion latency on accuracy in an analogue setting. Two‐hundred forty‐one undergraduate students (83.8% female) with a mean age of 21 participated across eight groups and were asked to complete an electronic DBR immediately after watching a video of student behavior or after a predetermined delay of 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, or 6 hours. A one‐way analysis of variance revealed that there was no statistically significant relationship between completion latency and DBR accuracy, F(7, 233) = .959, p = .46, η² = .028.     

Undergraduates' Evaluations of Developmental Claims and Their Identification of Information Sources

Students in a large human development course rated the accuracy of 50 developmental claims. Half of the claims were specifically embedded in the course content, but the remaining claims were not addressed in the course. Students also identified the major information source for each developmental claim rated. From the beginning to the end of the course, students (especially high performers) improved in evaluating the accuracy of course-related developmental claims and increasingly attributed their ratings of these claims to professional information sources. Our study underscores the importance of sensitizing students to the role of research evidence in judging the credibility of claims in general education courses.Sherry K. Bain is an Associate Professor in Educational Psychology and Counseling at the University of Tennessee and a member of the school psychology graduate faculty, Her research has included investigations of common beliefs in areas such as giftedness and educational psychology and their relationship to data-based evidence. Robert L. Williams is a Professor in Educational Psychology and Counseling at the University of Tennessee. His current research focuses on the role of critical thinking in a large human development course. Rachael Isaacs and Ashley Williams are doctoral students in the School Psychology Program at the University of Tennessee. Susan Stockdale is an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology and Middle Grades Education at Kennesaw State University. Her recent research has related to critical thinking and cooperative learning in higher education     

Validating self-paced sentence-by-sentence reading: story comprehension,recall, and narrative transportation

Previous studies on discourse have employed a self-paced sentence-by-sentence paradigm to present text and record reading times. However, presenting discourse this way does not mirror real-world reading conditions; for example, this paradigm prevents regressions to earlier portions of the text. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the ecological validity of self-paced sentence-by-sentence presentations by comparing it to normal page reading with respect to comprehension, recall, and narrative transportation, across two time points (immediate and delayed). Bayesian analyses found greater evidence in favor of the null hypothesis for transportation, indicating that little difference likely exists between sentence-by-sentence presentations and normal reading for this outcome. Weak evidence supporting the alternative hypothesis was found for immediate comprehension and recall, with participants who read the story as isolated sentences scoring marginally higher. Altogether, these results validate the self-paced sentence-by-sentence paradigm for measuring reading times, uncovering few differences in outcomes relative to natural reading.     

The Elusive Search for Teacher Collaboration

Collaboration is a well-used term in the field of education, identified as promising practice for student learning and teaching learning alike. However, collaboration comes in different shapes and sizes, leading to radically different ends. The authors examine teachers’ own understandings and practices of collaboration with teacher colleagues within their school contexts and within a professional development model designed to allow for collaborative conversation between teachers. Implications for teacher education are then considered.