Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Finance 2009-10, Uno Office Of Institutional Effectiveness

IPEDS Finance

IPEDS Finance annual report contains the following information:

• Revenues by source (e.g., tuition and fees, government, private gifts)
• Expenses by function (e.g., instruction, research, plant maintenance and operation)
• Scholarships, physical plant assets and indebtedness
• Assets, liabilities and net assets
• Different formats are used based on the institution’s accounting standards

Urban School Reform And The Strange Attractor Of Low-Risk Relationships, Brian R. Beabout

Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, school leaders in a newly decentralized school system reached out to external organizations for partnerships—a job that had previously resided in the central office. The necessity of these contacts and the quantity of newly independent schools make a unique context for studying how school leaders think and act in relation to external partnerships. Iterative interviews with 10 New Orleans public school principals reveal a range of external partnerships that can be classified into a three part taxonomy consisting of charitable relationships, technical support relationships, and feedback relationships. A discussion of low-risk relationships …

Factors Affecting The Success Of Robinson Scholars, Amanda Michele Dunn

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Robinson Scholars Program was created by the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees as an effort to combat historically high rates of poverty and low rates of educational attainment in Kentucky’s Appalachian region. The first class was selected in 1997 and was part of a broader effort to improve community and economic development in eastern Kentucky.

The Robinson Scholars Program provides financial and academic support for potential first-generation college students from the program’s 29-county service area. Scholars are selected in the eighth grade and are provided with enrichment opportunities and college preparation activities throughout their high school careers. Once …

Assessment Of The Neighborhood, Housing, Family, And Personal Characteristics That Affect Whether Students Drop Out Of High School, Montara Renée November

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This paper seeks to present research that will allow education officials to identify and target individuals who are likely to drop out of high school. By simultaneously using neighborhood, housing, family, and personal factors to identify at-risk students, education officials can link students to the social programs they need to meet their individual needs. Parent’s educational level had statistically significant effect on whether students dropped out of high school. The lower the education level the more likely a student will drop out of school. Parents who are high school dropouts are more likely to earn less and their children are …

Linking Opencoursewares And Open Education Resources: Creating An Effective Search And Recommendation System, Brett E. Shelton, J. Duffin, Y. Wang, J. Ball

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

With a growing number of digital libraries and other open education repositories being made available throughout the world, effective search and retrieval tools are necessary to access the desired materials that surpass the effectiveness of traditional, all inclusive search engines. This paper discusses the design and use of Folksemantic, a platform that integrates OpenCourseWare search, Open Educational Resource recommendations, and social network functionality into a single open source project. The paper describes how the system was originally envisioned, its goals for users, and data that provides insight into how it is actually being used. Data sources include website click-through data, …

Knowing And Throwing Mudballs, Hearts, Pies, And Flowers: A Connective Ethnography Of Gaming Practices, Deborah A. Fields, Y. B. Kafai

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Little is known concerning how young players learn to participate in various activities in virtual worlds. We use a new integrative approach called connective ethnography that focuses on how a gaming practice spread across a network of youth at an after school club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world, Whyville.net. To trace youth participation in online and offline social contexts, we draw on multiple sources of information: observations, interviews, videos, online tracking and chat data, and hundreds of hours of play in Whyville ourselves. One gaming practice – the throwing of projectiles and its social uses and nuances – …

Stealing From Grandma Or Generating Knowledge? Constestations And Effects Of Cheating In Whyville, Deborah A. Fields, Y. B. Kafai

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Much research has described the various practices needed of gaining access and participation in multi-user game communities. Cheat sites are a continuation of game communities where players engage in knowledge building about game related challenges. In this paper we analyze the cheat sites created by players for a tween virtual world called Whyville.net, which encourages youth to participate in a range of social activities and play casual science games. Through analysis we created typologies for both the cheats and sites related to science content. Further, a case study of an exemplary cheat site elaborates on how some player generated sites …

Your Second Selves: Avatar Designs And Identity Play, Y. B. Kafai, Deborah A. Fields, M. S. Cook

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Avatars in online games and worlds are seen as players’ key representations in interactions with each other. In this article, we investigate the avatar design and identity play within a large-scale tween virtual world called Whyville.net, with more than 1.5 million registered players of ages 816. One unique feature of Whyville is the players’ ability to customize their avatars with various face parts and accessories, all designed and sold by other players in Whyville. Our findings report on the expressive resources available for avatar construction, individual tween players’ choices and rationales in creating their avatars, and online postings about avatar …

"Blacks Deserve Bodies Too!" Design And Discussion About Diversity And Race In A Tween Virtual World, Y. B. Kafai, M. S. Cook, Deborah A. Fields

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, we investigate racial diversity in avatar design and public discussions about race within a large-scale tween virtual world called Whyville.net, with more than 1.5 million registered players of ages 8—16. One unique feature of Whyville is the player’s ability to customize their avatars with various face parts and accessories, all designed and sold by other players in Whyville. Our findings report on the racial diversity of available resources for avatar construction and online postings about the role of race in avatar design and social interactions in the community. With the growing interest in player-generated content for online …

Exploring The Use Of Language Cues For Higher-Order Thinking Skills In The Muet Syllabus., Patricia Das Isaacs

Student Works (2010-2019)

This study is mainly concerned with how the English language can be used to our benefit to create a thinking society in Malaysia. Since the Malaysian University English Test or MUET is a requirement for students wishing to pursue first degree tertiary education in public universities, it is felt that students should be equipped with a certain level of competency in a language which is also an international language. Along with this it is essential that students be able to develop the higher-order thinking skills of critical and creative thinking, analysing and problem-solving which will prove to be useful in …

Measuring Research Impact Using Bibliometrics, Constance Wiebrands

ECU Research Week

Introduces a range of tools for bibliometric analysis.

Instrumental Music And Act Scores, Jerry Price

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Allocation of dwindling resources force public administrators to make choices and instrumental music program budgets can be cut or even eliminated by state agencies or school districts. Whether or not this is good policy will be examined by the collection and analysis of school level data. Public school instrumental music programs are expensive to operate and maintain, involve specialized, highly-qualified instructors and require an inventory of instruments to ensure that students with low incomes will be able to participate. Families in high income situations may be able to afford private instrumental music lessons for their students and may be indifferent …

The Implementation Of School-Based Teacher Evaluation Practices In Selected Malaysian National Primary Schools., Vasundhara Vasudevan

Student Works (2010-2019)

Continuous improvement in teacher performance is the key to enhancing the quality of education. Teacher performance must be monitored and evaluated by school administrators to provide constant feedback and to assist teachers in achieving the common goals of educating individuals in schools. The purpose of the study was to investigate how administrators in national primary schools carried out teacher evaluation practices and to ascertain the influence of the evaluation process on teacher performance. The qualitative case method examined the purpose of teacher evaluation; the methods and instrument used; the utilization of findings; and the contextual factors that affected the implementation …

Representational Competence Of Form Four Science Students On Basic Chemical Concepts., Sim Joong Hiong

Student Works (2010-2019)

The general purpose of this study was to investigate Form four science students’ representational competence on basic chemical concepts. The main aims of the study were: (i) to investigate students’ understanding of basic chemical concepts, (ii) to evaluate their understanding of chemical representations, (iii) to assess their representational competence in chemistry, and (iv) to examine the influence of selected cognitive variables on their representational competence. A total of 411 Form four science students from seven urban secondary schools in Perak participated in this study. Data was obtained from seven instruments consisting of five paper-and-pencil tests, one questionnaire and interviews. The …

Hafazan Al-Quran Dan Hubungannya Dengan Kecemerlangan Pelajar : Kajian Di Maahad Tahfiz Al-Quran Wal Qiraat Pulai Chondong, Kelantan Dari Tahun 1997 Hingga 2007., Muhaidi Hj. Mustaffa

Student Works (2010-2019)

The topic for this research is “The Memorization of al-Quran and Its Relation with Students Excellence” : A Study at Maahad Tahfiz al-Quran Wal Qiraat, Pulai Chondong, Kelantan from 1997-2007 aimed to find methods of instruction in Maahad Tahfiz al-Quran Wal Qiraat, Pulai Chondong, Kelantan (MTAQPC), the characteristics of the students of MTAQPC and its relationship with the excellence of students. The purpose of this study is to find out the student in the field of academic and character. The study was carried out in the form of descriptive qualitative analysis. The method of study includes some of the elements …

Kelas Khas Kemahiran Al-Qur'an (Kkq) : Kajian Kaedah Pelaksanaan Dan Keberkesanannya Di Sekolah-Sekolah Menengah (Smk) Di Daerah Gombak, Selangor., Eadil Mat

Student Works (2010-2019)

This research is mainly to focus on the methods of the implementation of Special Course of Quranic which being conducted in school and its effectiveness. This study has been conducted in three schools in the Gombak West Zone in the district of Gombak, Selangor. There were 70 students from form 2 and 3 teachers who teach the Special Course involved in this research. It is to determine whether the students’ background, teacher, the efforts of related parties and also the problems arise that effect the teaching and learning of the teachers in the class. The measuring tools that used were …

La Acreditación De Los Posgrados En Instituciones Privadas De Educación Superior Mexicanas, Gus Gregorutti

Faculty Publications

The exponential growth of private higher education in Mexico,especially over the last 30 years, has also raised questions aboutthe level of quality offered by some of the professional orientedgraduate programs. In order to know how these universities handlequality, this paper collected opinions from four academic administratorsinterviewed in three private universities in the State ofNuevo Leon, Mexico. Their points of view expressed concernsaround the parameters used by Conacyt to assess quality amongprofessional oriented graduate programs. The major areas of disagreementwere related to assumptions dealing with the productionof knowledge and the requirements for professors and students tobe part of an accredited program. …

Producción Intelectual En Pequeñas Universidades Privadas Latinoamericanas: Una Situación Paradójica, Gus Gregorutti

Faculty Publications

Durante las tres últimas décadas, Latinoamérica ha experimentado un incrementovertiginoso de la educación privada superior, incluyendo a las universidades.Este fenómeno ha estimulado la creación de diversas agenciasacreditadoras que buscan certificar la calidad de los programas de esas universidades.Se exige, entre otras dimensiones, que haya producción de conocimientocomo una forma de originar cambios socioeconómicos. Así las universidadesse ven impulsadas a producir investigación. Este estudio busca sabercómo los docentes de ocho pequeñas universidades privadas latinoamericanasperciben el proceso de producción intelectual en el contexto de sus tareas profesionales.Con una metodología mixta, se encontró que los mayores factoresque afectan a la investigación están relacionados …

Barriers To Success In Fall Term Frinq: Faculty And Mentor Stories About Their Students, Michael Flower, Rowanna L. Carpenter, Mirela Blekic

University Studies Assessment Research

Presents themes emerging from a series of conversations with FRINQ faculty and mentors about their students who were not returning to Portland State for Winter term.

Computer Simulation Of Low Temperature Plasma., Low Shu San

Student Works (2010-2019)

Glow discharges are used in a large number of applications, and it is one of the most common plasmas used in industry. The most important application of glow discharges is probably in microelectronic industry, and material technology. Studies were conducted on the effect of various parameters such as driving voltage, pressure and interelectrode gap length on the fundamental properties of the glow discharge plasma using the XPDP1 simulation code developed by UC Berkeley. The XPDP1 code is a one-dimensional bounded electrostatic simulation code for parallel-plate capacitively coupled plasma system, with an external coupled circuit which may include R, L, and …