Modeling student performance in diagnostic tasks: A decade of evolution

Since 1976 the authors have been involved in an evolving research and development program focusing on the application of computer-based simulation to diagnostic training in technical environments. Eight simulation-oriented training systems are used to describe the authors' understanding of and approach to student diagnosis. Each of the systems described capitalized on experimental and/or empirical findings from previous experiences. The article describes how design decisions were driven first by research findings and then by the reality of building effective computer-based training systems within the constraints of operational environments. The paper on which this article is based was presented at the Cognitive Skill Acquisition Workshop, Air Force Armstrong Laboratory Human Resources Directorate, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas, in July 1990. It is also published in Regian, W. J., & Shute, V. J. (Eds). (1992).Cognitive approaches to automated instruction. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.     

The International Network for Older Adults

Conclusion Although funds were not available to bring members of the Older Adults Network to the World Assembly of Adult Education in January 1990, there was, among the delegates, considerable interest in the subject and several meetings were arranged. The thing that struck me most was not how different were our situations, coming as we did from every corner of the earth, but how many problems and concerns we had in common.With the second Network Newsletter, sent out in the spring of 1991, questionnaires asked for brief details of schemes which involved older people in projects that were, in some way, conservational. They could be involved in conserving language, mythology or history. They might be working to improve and save their environment. The aim is to establish a small but useful register of such projects in sufficient detail to encourage contact and replication by others. For this purpose, small grants are being made available from the money given by CIDA. Slowly but surely, the Older Adults Network is gathering information about positive actions being taken to ensure that older people, in all countries, have the skills and opportunities they need to continue as fully participating citizens. With the rapidly increasing number of older people in all our countries, this small beginning will, hopefully, be a foundation on which much important work will be done in the years to come.     

The Case for a Middle School College Readiness Index: Rejoinder to Lazowski,Barron, Kosovich,and Hulleman and Mattern,Allen, and Camara

This rejoinder provides a reply to comments on a middle school college readiness index, which was devised to generate earlier and more nuanced readiness diagnoses to K‐12 students. Issues of reliability and validity (including construct underrepresentation and construct‐irrelevant variance) are discussed in detail. In addition, comments from Lazowski et al. and Mattern et al. provide a useful summary of areas where more college readiness research is needed. This rejoinder elaborates on those essential next steps, including deploying readiness indicators in school settings. Advances in the measurement of noncognitive skills will require more validity research using more contemporary data from authentic school settings. Still, the middle school college readiness index is a promising proof of concept, demonstrating the utility of diverse, early measures to support targeted, timely interventions.     

Books,Bytes, and Buildings: The Academic Library's Unique Role in Improving Student Success

Student persistence and completion are paramount in higher education, and institutions are employing targeted programs and initiatives to address these concerns. The academic library can play an especially important role in these efforts, given its unique interdisciplinary mission and its integrated instructional programs. With a foundation in both higher education and library and information science literatures, this article describes how one academic library engaged in cross-campus programs, partnerships, and initiatives to contribute to student success efforts. Other libraries may find these examples useful as they consider how to frame their work in the context of their institutions’ student persistence efforts.     

Community perceptions and utilization of a consumer health center

The purpose of this study was to understand factors that may affect the usage of a consumer health center located in a public library. More specifically, the authors wanted to know what health resources are of interest to the community, what patrons'' perceptions of their experience at the center are, and finally, how staff can increase utilization of the center. In general, perceptions of the center were positive. The findings support that participants appreciate efforts to provide health information in the public library setting and that utilization could be improved through marketing and outreach.Problems with health literacy—one''s ability to obtain, process, and understand basic information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions 1, 2—significantly limit effective dissemination and understanding of relevant health information, especially among racial and ethnic minorities where health literacy challenges are pervasive 3–5. People with limited health literacy skills have higher medical costs and use an inefficient mix of medical services 3, 6–13. This compromises their health and is a major source of economic inefficiency in the US health care system. Efforts to address low health literacy may result in reductions of health inequities, decreased medical costs, and enhanced quality of life 14. However, efforts to promote health literacy that seek to empower individuals to understand health information and act in their own interest remain an underexplored pathway to improved health outcomes 9.The National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) encourages libraries to reach out to low literacy groups in their surrounding communities to address literacy challenges 15–17. These actions have resulted in development of consumer health libraries, centers where patrons can get accurate and timely health information. Preliminary investigations of consumer health libraries have reinforced the value of these services 18, 19, but there is little information regarding the provision of similar services in other public settings.The Healthy Living and Learning Center (HLLC), located in a public library in Petersburg, Virginia, was established in 2012 to provide one-on-one assistance in accessing health information and community resources. According to 2010–2013 census data, 25% of Petersburg residents are below the poverty line 20. Localities surrounding the HLLC experience some of the most unfavorable health outcomes in Virginia 21. In addition, 16%–24% of citizens in the surrounding localities are illiterate 22.The public library setting provides an appropriate context to initiate consumer health centers outside of medical settings. Librarians are already being asked to meet consumer demands for health information 15–17, and the provision of accurate health information is a natural extension of the services that public libraries provide. The American Library Association reports that 62% of libraries report that they are the only source of free public access to computers and the Internet in their communities 23. According to a recent study from Pew, 35% of Americans 16 and older say they have used free Internet access points, 47% of whom have used these services to get health information 24. For a number of minorities, the public library is the only place they have Internet access 25. Thus, libraries not only remain a critical resource among the public, but may also have unique access to populations who are more vulnerable to health inequities.     

Terra Populus: Workflows for Integrating and Harmonizing Geospatial Population and Environmental Data

The Terra Populus project (TerraPop) addresses a variety of data management, curation, and preservation challenges with respect to spatiotemporal population and environmental data. In this article, we describe our approaches to these challenges, with a particular focus on geospatial data workflows and associated provenance metadata. The goal of TerraPop is to enable research, learning, and policy analysis by providing integrated spatiotemporal data describing people and their environment. To do so, TerraPop is assembling a globe-spanning and temporally extensive collection of high-quality population and environmental data, ensuring good documentation, and developing a Web-based data access system that enables users to assemble customized integrated data sets drawing on a variety of data sources and formats. We describe TerraPop's collection strategies, detail the geospatial workflows involved in preparing data for ingest into the project database and those used to transform data across formats for dissemination, and discuss the system used to capture and manage provenance metadata throughout the project. A key aspect of the project is the development of global current and historical administrative unit boundaries that can be linked to census data. These boundaries serve as the linchpin of TerraPop's data integration strategy, and constitute an important data set in their own right.     

Urban fifth graders’ connections-making between formal earth science content and their lived experiences

Earth science education, as it is traditionally taught, involves presenting concepts such as weathering, erosion, and deposition using relatively well-known examples—the Grand Canyon, beach erosion, and others. However, these examples—which resonate well with middle- and upper-class students—ill-serve students of poverty attending urban schools who may have never traveled farther from home than the corner store. In this paper, I explore the use of a place-based educational framework in teaching earth science concepts to urban fifth graders and explore the connections they make between formal earth science content and their lived experiences using participant-driven photo elicitation techniques. I argue that students are able to gain a sounder understanding of earth science concepts when they are able to make direct observations between the content and their lived experiences and that when such direct observations are impossible they make analogies of appearance, structure, and response to make sense of the content. I discuss additionally the importance of expanding earth science instruction to include man-made materials, as these materials are excluded traditionally from the curriculum yet are most immediately available to urban students for examination.