Education Commons^™

Reading For The New Era: Assessing Reading In A Digital Environment, Dara Searle, Tom Lumley, Juliette Mendelovits

Dr Tom Lumley

No abstract provided.

Reading For The New Era: Assessing Reading In A Digital Environment, Dara Searle, Tom Lumley, Juliette Mendelovits

Juliette Mendelovits

No abstract provided.

What Information From Pisa Is Useful For Teachers? How Can Pisa Help Our Students To Become More Proficient?, Juliette Mendelovits, Dara Searle, Tom Lumley

Juliette Mendelovits

A frequent objection to large-scale testing programs, both national and international, is that they are used as an instrument of control, rather than as a means of providing information to effect change. Moreover, concerns about large-scale testing often take the form of objection to the specific characteristics of the assessments as being prescriptive and proscriptive, leading to a narrowing of the curriculum and the spectre of 'teaching to the test' to the exclusion of more important educational content. Taking PISA reading literacy as its focus, this paper proposes, on the contrary, that a coherent assessment system is valuable in so …

Collaborating On Writing, Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe, William Phillips

Hal Blythe

Here’s a guide to how “collabo-writing” can boost your productivity while sharpening your skills (and subjugating your ego).

Poverty Reduction And Vincentian Higher Education Institutions, Marco Tavanti, Craig Mousin

Craig B. Mousin

Dr. Marco Tavanti and Craig Mousin discuss with Dr. Scott Kelly the university's responsibility for poverty reduction as expressed in the conferences and special number of Vincentian Heritage "What would Vincent do? Vincentian Higher Education and Poverty Reduction"

Success Despite The Odds? Outcomes For Low-Performing Students In Australia, Sue Thomson, Kylie Hillman

Kylie Hillman

No abstract provided.

The Analysis Of Measurement Equivalence In International Studies Using The Rasch Model., Wolfram Schulz, Julian Fraillon

Julian Fraillon

This paper outlines how Rasch modelling can be used for testing assumption about measurement equivalence in international studies. Based on the Rasch model (Rasch, 1960) for dichotomous items and the Partial Credit model for polytomous items (Masters & Wright, 1982), so-called item-by-country interactions can be estimated that provide useful information about the level of measurement invariance in parameter estimates. It should be noted that item-by-country interactions are one form of differential item functioning (DIF) where groups vary in their probability of answering questions even after controlling for their levels of ability (see Hambleton, Swaminathan and Rogers, 1991). Item-by-country interactions can …

A Digital Education Revolution : Realising The Possibilities, Managing The Realities, Linda Rosman, Gerald White, Kerry-Anne Hoad

Dr Gerald K. White

This report presents the outcomes of the series of Symposia 'A Digital Education Revolution; realising the possibilities, managing the realities'. ACER initiated the Symposia, developed the program, delivered research content and managed the promotions and coordination for each event. ACER proposed the series of Symposia in response to the current interest, conversations and debate within schools and systems. The goals of the Symposia were to illuminate the possibilities and the realities of the DER initiative through informed presentations, discussions, debates and conversations, and to provide feedback to DEEWR on the school based concerns and key issues that emerged. ACER initially …

Digital Learning: An Australian Research Agenda, Gerald White

Dr Gerald K. White

The purpose of this paper is to provide some suggestions for consideration of directions for Australian educational research about ICT in education, more recently being called digital learning. A number of agencies in Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA have already embarked on developing research agendas and undertaking research into the use of digital learning. This report highlights some of the significant areas in which research has been undertaken and isolates those areas where there may be a need for further research or where there are gaps in the research agenda for Australia. This paper is …

A New Scale For Measuring Socioeconomic Status In Educational Research : Development And Validation Of The Australian Socioeconomic Index 2006 (Ausei06), Julie Mcmillan, Frank Jones, Adrian Beavis

Julie McMillan

This paper introduces a new occupational status scale, the Australian Socioeconomic Index 2006 (AUSEI06), which can be used to explore a wide range of equity issues relating to educational aspirations, early school leaving, access to higher education, literacy and numeracy levels, and other aspects of educational access, achievement, and attainment. AUSEI06 was developed in response to the introduction of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The scale provides a simple means for educational researchers to convert ANZSCO codes into more sociologically meaningful occupational status scores. The aims of this paper …

The Impact Of Values And Learning Approaches On Achievement: Do Gender And Academic Discipline Make A Difference., Petra Lietz, Liudmila Tarabashkina

Dr Petra Lietz

This paper presents results from a longitudinal study of sojourner students which was conducted at an international university in Germany from 2004 to 2007. The study followed one cohort of undergraduate students from the first week of their studies to graduation from their Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts degree. Participants completed three questionnaires at the beginning of each year: the Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ) (Schwartz et al. 2001), the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ) (Biggs 1987), and the Student Background Questionnaire (Matthews, Lietz & Darmawan 2007). Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to examine how personal values influenced students’ …

An Optimal Choice Of Initial Solutions In The Homotopy Perturbation Method, Habibolla Latifizadeh

H. L. Zadeh

This paper proposes a reliable modification of the homotopy perturbation method which can serve as a promising tool for solving a large class of differential equations. In this approach only the highest order derivative is considered in the solution procedure, and the initial solution which can be obtained by the standard procedure is decomposed to optimally match the solution procedure. Some examples are given, showing that only one or few iterations lead to exact solutions using the new technology, while the standard HPM algorithm yields infinite series converging to the exact solutions.

Developmental Students' Perceptions Of Unsuccessful And Successful Mathematics Learning, Laurel Howard

Laurel Howard

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe what experiences, attitudes, and learning strategies developmental mathematics students believed contributed to their failure to gain basic math skill proficiency in the past and what experiences, attitudes, and learning strategies these students now believed were most likely to enhance the successful learning of basic math skills. To gain an understanding of the lived experiences of successful developmental mathematics students who were previously unsuccessful, structured, open-ended interviews were conducted, classroom observations were made, and formative and summative assessments for the students were collected. Fourteen students from a western 4-year college were selected …

Incentives And Disincentives For The Use Of Opencourseware, Anne Arendt

Anne M Arendt

This article examines Utah residents’ views of incentives and disincentives for the use of OpenCourseWare (OCW), and how they fit into the theoretical framework of perceived innovation attributes established by Rogers (1983). Rogers identified five categories of perceived innovation attributes: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. A survey instrument was developed using attributes that emerged from a Delphi technique with input from experts in the OCW field. The survey instrument was sent to 753 random individuals between 18 and 64 years of age throughout Utah.

Results indicated that the greatest incentives for OCW use were the following: (a) no …

Implementing A New Initiative In Mental Health In Australian Primary Schools, Michael Lawson, Helen Askell-Williams, Katherine Dix, Phillip Slee, Grace Skrzypiec, Barbara Spears

Dr Katherine Dix

I'M A Girl, You're A Boy. You Study Social Science, I Study Natural Science:, Petra Lietz, Ognyan Seizov

Dr Petra Lietz

In this multiple case study (n= 8) with process orientation (Yin, 2003) in-depth interviews were conducted annually over a three-year period with undergraduate students from eight countries at an international university. They had been purposely selected to reflect a mix of learning approaches, gender and discipline areas. Interviews probed students about their instructional experiences, such as evaluation of teaching, assessment preferences and preparation, adaptation of learning approaches and plans for the future. The systematic content analysis was aimed at comparing responses across learning approaches, gender and discipline areas. Results indicated commonalities across learning approaches, gender and discipline areas in terms …

The Contribution And Standards Processes Of Private Higher Education Providers, Daniel Edwards, Hamish Coates, Ali Radloff

Dr Daniel Edwards

This research project has been conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) for the Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET). The main purpose of this work is to provide information about the standards processes and practices among private1 higher education providers (HEPs) in Australia. This project has used quantitative modelling to determine the size, diversity and recent growth of HEPs in Australia, and to provide a contextual base for this part of the sector in comparison with the public universities. A number of HEPs have also participated in consultations undertaken as part of this research. Participating …

The Contribution And Standards Processes Of Private Higher Education Providers, Daniel Edwards, Hamish Coates, Ali Radloff

Ali Radloff

This research project has been conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) for the Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET). The main purpose of this work is to provide information about the standards processes and practices among private1 higher education providers (HEPs) in Australia. This project has used quantitative modelling to determine the size, diversity and recent growth of HEPs in Australia, and to provide a contextual base for this part of the sector in comparison with the public universities. A number of HEPs have also participated in consultations undertaken as part of this research. Participating …

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspapers Project: Digitizing Archival Newspapers For Full-Text Indexing, Gabrielle Michalek, Jennie Benford

Gabrielle Michalek

The Carnegie Mellon University Libraries was asked by the library director of a local synagogue to digitize a singular collection of three historic Jewish newspapers, all of which were published in Pittsburgh. These three newspapers, the runs of which span the 19th to the 21st century, posed unique digitization challenges, both as unwieldy, fragile physical objects and as unindexed, dense analog datasets. Using a combination of revamped workflows and repurposed equipment, the Carnegie Mellon Library staff rose to the challenge, creating a full text searchable set of 160,000 digital surrogates for under $100,000. As of 2009, fundraising to secure another …

Certificating Ielts Writing And Speaking Examiners, Sacha Develle

Dr Sacha DeVelle

IELTS examiners are subject to rigorous procedures for the certification of new examiners and the re-certification of experienced examiners. The IELTS Professional Support Network (PSN) integrates these procedures via a global system of recruitment, induction, training, standardisation, certification and monitoring. Research funded by the IELTS Joint-funded Research Program (Brown 2000, Furneaux and Rignall 2007), and outcomes from The IELTS Speaking Test Revision Project (1998-2001) and Writing Test Revision Project (2001-2005) have provided valuable insights into examiner training and the regular updating of examiner certification and training materials. Studies in Language Testing 19 (Taylor and Falvey 2007) documents Speaking and Writing …

Reconstruction Of Variational Iteration Algorithms Using The Laplace Transform, Habibolla Latifizadeh

H. L. Zadeh

The variational iteration method is a very efficient tool for solving various kinds of nonlinear equations. The variational iteration algorithms are derived based on general Lagrange multipliers and variational theory, this paper suggests an alternative approach to derivation of the variational iteration formulations using the Laplace transform. Some illustrative examples are given to show the validity of this method.

Reporting And Comparing School Performances, Geoff Masters, Glenn Rowley, John Ainley, Siek Toon Khoo

Prof Geoff Masters AO

This report provides advice on the collection and reporting of information about the performances of Australian schools. The focus is on the collection of nationally comparable data. Two purposes are envisaged: use by education authorities and governments to monitor school performances and, in particular, to identify schools that are performing unusually well or unusually poorly given their circumstances; and use by parents/caregivers and the public to make informed judgements about, and meaningful comparisons of, schools and their offerings. Our advice is based on a review of recent Australian and international research and experience in reporting on the performances of schools. …

Persistence In Japanese Language Study And Learners’ Cultural/Linguistics Backgrounds, Masanori Matsumoto

Masanori Matsumoto

Motivational characteristics of students learning Japanese as a foreign language at universities in Australia were investigated to find out what affecting factors are closely related to their intentions for continuing/discontinuing their study. The results showed that students’ cultural/linguistic backgrounds have a significant impact on their performance in learning the language, and sustaining motivation, which is closely related to their interest in aspects of Japanese culture, is an important determinant for persistence in their study. Developing intrinsic cultural interest is an important factor for sustaining motivation, which is more likely to occur when learners have distant cultural/linguistic backgrounds from Japanese. Closer …

Questionnaire Construct Validation In The International Civic And Citizenship Education Study, Wolfram Schulz

Dr Wolfram Schulz

International studies tend to use student, teacher, and/or school questionnaires to collect contextual data on student and teacher characteristics, background, and activities, and the school’s learning environment. Student measures of values, attitudes, and behavioral intentions are also often viewed as important learning outcomes, in particular within the context of studies of civic and citizenship education. The scaling of questionnaire items to obtain measures of students’, teachers’, and principals’ perceptions and attitudes should therefore ideally be subject to a thorough cross-country validation of the underlying constructs. However, whereas those conducting international studies spend considerable effort ensuring measurement equivalence for international test …

Exploring What Engineering Doctoral Students Aspiring To Faculty Careers Learn About Research From Faculty Mentors. Frontiers In Education, (Fie) Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Tx., Tonya Saddler

Tonya N. Saddler, Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Saddler, T.N., Trautvetter, L., & Mckenna, A.F. (2009, October). Prototyping The Engineer Of 2020: A Curricular Examination Of Two Exemplary Institutions Preparing Undergraduate Engineers. Frontiers In Education, (Fie) Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Tx., Tonya Saddler

Tonya N. Saddler, Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

Expectations Of The System, Clarence Terry

Clarence "La Mont" Terry, Sr.

Expectations of the System is a student-created film which details the findings of a participatory action research (PAR) project conducted in South Los Angeles. In the summer of 2008, a critical research team composed of seven high school-aged Black males and a mathematics education researcher (also a Black male) conducted qualitative and quantitative research to explore the incarceration and university attendance rates of 18-34 year old African American males in California state. In the first part of the film, the researchers interview African American men from their community in an attempt to understand underrepresented perspectives on issues pertaining to the …

School Governance, Abe Feuerstein

Abe Feuerstein

No abstract provided.

The Analysis Of Measurement Equivalence In International Studies Using The Rasch Model., Wolfram Schulz, Julian Fraillon

Dr Wolfram Schulz

This paper outlines how Rasch modelling can be used for testing assumption about measurement equivalence in international studies. Based on the Rasch model (Rasch, 1960) for dichotomous items and the Partial Credit model for polytomous items (Masters & Wright, 1982), so-called item-by-country interactions can be estimated that provide useful information about the level of measurement invariance in parameter estimates. It should be noted that item-by-country interactions are one form of differential item functioning (DIF) where groups vary in their probability of answering questions even after controlling for their levels of ability (see Hambleton, Swaminathan and Rogers, 1991). Item-by-country interactions can …

Human Cloning, Steve Mcdonald

Steven McDonald

No abstract provided.