ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Severity of Organized Item Theft in Computerized Adaptive Testing: An Empirical Study. Research Report. ETS RR-06-22
Author: Yi, Qing
Date: 2006-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computer Assisted Testing,Adaptive Testing,Test Items,Computer Security,Crime,Antisocial Behavior,Item Banks,Simulation

Chang and Zhang (2002, 2003) proposed several baseline criteria for assessing the severity of possible test security violations for computerized tests with high-stakes outcomes. However, these criteria were obtained from theoretical derivations that assumed uniformly randomized item selection. The current study investigated potential damage caused by organized item theft in computerized adaptive testing (CAT) for two more realistic item selection methods, the maximum item information and the &quot;a&quot;-stratified, while using the randomized method as a baseline for comparison. The results of the study indicated that the damage could be very severe, especially when the thieves took the test in the early stage of utilization of an item pool. Among the three CAT methods examined in this study, the maximum item information method with Sympson-Hetter exposure control was most vulnerable to organized item theft.
Teachers' Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Using Arabic Language Teaching Software in Omani Basic Education
Author: Al-Busaidi, Fatma
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Semitic Languages,Foreign Countries,Computer Software,Computer Uses in Education,Focus Groups,Semi Structured Interviews,Educational Technology,Qualitative Research,Teaching Methods,Teacher Attitudes,Females,Elementary School Teachers,Language Arts,Program Effectiveness,Language Skills,Reading Difficulties

This paper is part of a strategic research project that aimed to assess the effectiveness of the design and use of new software for Arabic language learning (ALL). However, the focus of this paper is to understand Arabic teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of the software that was designed purposely by the project's team to facilitate ALL at Omani Basic Education schools. More specifically, by using two methods, a focus group interview and semi-structured interviews, this qualitative study attempted to reflect on the ways in which using software technology is changing the profession of Arabic language teaching and learning (ALTL). The sample of the focus group interview consisted of 12 Arabic female teachers from Muscat Basic Education schools. Nine of them participated in semi-structured interviews. These interviews investigated the perceived degree of the effectiveness and obstacles of using the Arabic language (AL) software in teaching the Arabic language (TAL) along with the teachers' perceptions for increasing its effectiveness. Overall, findings indicate that teachers perceived the designed software as an effective tool to promote students' learning and to deal with their learning difficulties. However, some factors that seemed to influence the implementation of this software, and some improvement elements were suggested by these teachers to increase the level of the effectiveness of this software.
Jackknife Estimation of Sampling Variance of Ratio Estimators in Complex Samples: Bias and the Coefficient of Variation. Research Report. ETS RR-06-19
Author: Oranje, Andreas
Date: 2006-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Statistical Analysis,Computation,Sampling,Statistical Bias,National Competency Tests,Grade 4,Grade 8,Reading Tests,Mathematics Tests

A multitude of methods has been proposed to estimate the sampling variance of ratio estimates in complex samples (Wolter, 1985). Hansen and Tepping (1985) studied some of those variance estimators and found that a high coefficient of variation (CV) of the denominator of a ratio estimate is indicative of a biased estimate of the standard error of a ratio estimate. Using the same populations, Kovar (1985) and Kovar, Rao, and Wu (1988) repeated the research and showed that the relation between a high CV and bias in standard errors is weak. In light of these conflicting findings, this study uses substantially different populations and design choices taken from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to further investigate the relationship between bias, the CV, and the number of strata, which has also been found to be an indicator of bias (Burke &amp; Rust, 1995). It is found that the CV is a relatively weak indicator of bias, showing poor power properties. Suggestions are made to improve upon statistical suppression rules related to the CV and number of replicate strata.
Analysis of the Implementation of a WebQuest for Learning English in a Secondary School in Spain
Author: Renau, Maria Luisa
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Program Implementation,Courseware,Database Management Systems,Secondary School Curriculum,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Computer Assisted Instruction,Teaching Methods,Student Attitudes,Learning Motivation,Information Skills,Interpersonal Competence,Cultural Literacy,Technology Uses in Education,Electronic Learning,Questionnaires,Pretests Posttests

In this technological era we live in, the educative scenario is changing rapidly and significantly due to the incorporation of the Internet. Therefore, education should pay special attention to society needs considering the information and communication technologies (TICs) essentially in the teaching process in order to make students ready for this changing society. This paper is focused on the implementation, assessment and analysis of a computer-based approach, a WebQuest, in a third year of compulsory secondary education. The didactic unit implemented deals with the different English-speaking countries and their particularities. The new approach has been carried out using in-class sessions together with autonomous work and group work. The purpose of this study is to analyse and discuss students' opinions and reactions towards the use of this new teaching and learning strategy in an English as a Second Language class. In this sense, the study aims at showing whether students 1) gain a higher motivation in learning English, 2) have improved their digital competence and 3) have acquired cultural competence. The results show that the use of new technologies have motivated students towards the teaching and learning of the English subject, improving their digital competence as well as their cultural competence.
A Research on Future Mathematics Teachers' Instructional Explanations: The case of Algebra
Author: Guler, Mustafa
Date: 2016-08-23
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teachers,Mathematics Teachers,Algebra,Teacher Education Programs,Vignettes,Interviews,Mathematical Logic,Mathematics Instruction,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Middle Schools,Problem Solving,Foreign Countries

In this study, explanations of future mathematics teachers about algebra were analysed according to the levels of understanding used by Kinach (2002). The participants for the study were 101 teacher candidates attending the final semester of a teacher training program. For data collection, a form containing four scenario-type items were administered to the participants. In addition, interviews were carried out on six participants selected through purposeful sampling technique. The findings of the study showed that the participants mostly provided content-level explanations based on procedural understanding. The second frequent type of explanation was at the concept level. The problem solving-epistemic level explanations were found to be used less. At the level of content, the explanations were mostly related to rules while at the level of concept, the explanations were based on inductive reasoning.
Virtual Educational Model for Remote Communities in Chocó, Colombia
Author: Sanabria, Oscar Buitrango
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Rural Areas,Teaching Methods,Faculty Development,Teacher Role,Poverty,High Schools,Online Courses,Mixed Methods Research,Surveys,Interviews,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Internet

This research seeks to analyse and propose a solution to support classroom-based teaching in the Department of Chocó, Colombia, which is located in a rural area and has been the subject of many social projects for the development of its people. Due to the disparities in different regions of the country, the education sector is forced to look for new working environments that are suitable for rural communities who were left out in the development. For this reason, a Virtual Learning Community is proposed in the to improve the educational conditions and relate how the use of technology and Open Educational Resources could contribute to it. The participants of this study were the teachers and students of the school. Results show that teacher training is essential so that they can act as leaders in their community.
Comparisons of the Kernel Equating Method with the Traditional Equating Methods on Praxis™ Data. Research Report. ETS RR-06-30
Author: Mao, Xia
Date: 2006-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Licensing Examinations (Professions),Teacher Certification,Equated Scores,Statistical Analysis,Comparative Analysis,Mathematics Tests

Kernel equating (KE) is a new approach to observed-score equating and is described in detail in von Davier, Holland, and Thayer (2004b). Over the past months, several evaluation studies of KE have been designed and carried out. In this part of the overall evaluation study, we compared the KE method with other equating methods using real data from the program of Praxis Series: Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers®. The goal of this study was to check how closely the KE results agree with the results from other observed-score equating methods in different operational settings. The equating designs involved include an equivalent-groups (EG) design and two nonequivalent groups with anchor test (NEAT) designs with different sample sizes and different characteristics. We compared KE with the equating methods that were used operationally. The results showed that the differences between KE and the traditional equating methods are very small in the EG design, especially in the linear case. In the two NEAT designs, the KE version of poststratification equating with optimal bandwidths produced close results to its analogue, frequency estimation equipercentile equating, except at the lower score range. The KE linear method yielded very similar results to the Tucker method.
What Makes a Mathematical Task Interesting?
Author: Nyman, Rimma
Date: 2016-08-23
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mathematics Activities,Secondary School Students,Grade 9,Semi Structured Interviews,Learner Engagement,Student Interests,Cognitive Processes,Difficulty Level,Task Analysis,Geometry,Foreign Countries

The study addresses the question of what makes a mathematical task interesting to the 9th year students. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 15 students of purposive selection of the 9th year. The students were asked to recall a task they found interesting and engaging during the past three years. An analysis of the tasks was made with respect to the context, cognitive demand, and task structure, while interview data were analyzed using the Theory of Didactical Situation (TDS) and Mathematical Task Framework (MTF). The students recalled a total of four teacher-designed tasks. All of the tasks offered a high level of challenge, elements of sharing and some freedom of choices related to the aspects of the tasks. The results showed that in most cases the students pointed out the target knowledge as the reason for a task to be interesting and engaging, followed by the way the content was dealt with in the classroom.
The Awareness and Educational Status on Oral Health of Elite Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Study with Cluster Analysis
Author: Ozgur, Bahar Odabas
Date: 2016-08-23
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Athletes,Dental Health,Multivariate Analysis,Case Studies,Educational Attainment,Correlation,Questionnaires,Males,Athletics,Foreign Countries,Statistical Analysis

In this cross-sectional survey, this study aimed to determine the factors associated with oral health of elite athletes and to determine the clustering tendency of the variables by dendrogram, and to determine the relationship between predefined clusters and see how these clusters can converge. A total of 97 elite (that is, top-level performing) male handball players aged 18 to 29 years participated in the study. Two questionnaires with high validity scores were computed based on the results of the oral health of elite athletes (Geriatric/General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) and the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP)). The GOHAI mean and standard deviation score was 8.381 ± 3.988, indicating a low self-perception of oral health by the allocated sample The OHIP mean and standard deviation score was 11.25 ± 3.553, indicating a low self-perception of oral health by the allocated sample. OHIP shows low scores based on these results. According to the first sub cluster; dental floss, dental control, brushing, gingival health, age, dieting and education was found significantly related with these two indexes. The ratios of these variables were as follows: dental floss; 56.7%, dental control; 80.4%, brushing; 99%, gingival health; 96.9%, dieting; 94.8%, education; 100% and the mean age was 18.96 ± 3.731. These results indicate positive correlations among GOHAI and OHIP indexes and positive results for elite athletes included to the current study. As a result, the variables that affect the oral health of the athletes in the study based on multivariate analysis of the clustering results were observed to be healthy at the expected level. The relationships between variables with dendrogram by using hierarchical cluster analysis was discovered.
Relationship between Philosophical Preferences of Classroom Teachers and Their Teaching Styles
Author: Saritas, Emel
Date: 2016-08-23
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Elementary School Teachers,Educational Philosophy,Preferences,Teaching Styles,Questionnaires,Statistical Analysis,Correlation,Foreign Countries

The purpose of this study is to examine the philosophical preferences of classroom teachers, their teaching styles and the relationship between the two variables. Participants are 301 volunteered classroom teachers who teach at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th classes in primary schools. To collect the data, philosophical preferences assessment form which was developed by Wiles and Bondi (2007) and adapted to Turkish by Doganay and Sari (2003), and Teaching Styles Questionnaire which was developed by Grasha and Reichmann (1994) and adapted to Turkish by Saritas and Süral (2010) were used. Analyses figure out that classroom teachers mostly prefer experimentalist philosophy and have facilitator teaching style. Examining the relationship of educational philosophies and teaching styles of teachers, there is a positive and significant relationship between the adopted educational philosophy and teaching style.
The Shifting of Students' Epistemological Belief about Mathematics in Polytechnic
Author: Hakim, Arif Rahman
Date: 2016-08-23
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Epistemology,Beliefs,Mathematics,Mixed Methods Research,Student Attitudes,Mathematics Achievement,Correlation,College Students,Attitude Change,Foreign Countries,Likert Scales,Questionnaires

The research aims to figure out students' epistemological belief shift about mathematics after having attended a lecture in a Polytechnic. In addition, it also aims to find out the relationship between their beliefs and mathematics performance. The study applied mix method with explanatory sequential design approach by conducting first study quantitatively and further study qualitatively. The sample consists of 223 participants drawn randomly by stratified random sampling method. The result showed that students' epistemological belief about mathematics either pre­ college or in-college period in Polytechnic was &quot;poorly positive&quot;. Most of them (about 95%) had their epistemological beliefs about mathematics shifted with the changes &quot;low increasing&quot;. Also, the belief shifting was positively correlated with mathematics performance at a significance level of 1%, and the Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.204. Some factors that affects students' epistemological belief about Mathematics shifted was: student's orientation purpose, assessment system, curriculum, methods of learning, and met-before.
Lessons for Research Policy and Practice: The Case of Co-Enquiry Research with Rural Communities
Author: Caruso, Emily
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Financial Support,Research,Community Involvement,Inquiry,Cooperation,Rural Areas,Foreign Countries,Case Studies,Research Methodology,Funding Formulas,Barriers

This article explores the relationship between institutional funding for research and community-based or co-enquiry research practice. It examines the implementation of co-enquiry research in the COMBIOSERVE project, which was funded by the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme for research and innovation, between the years 2012 and 2015. Research partnerships between Latin American and European civil society organisations, research institutions, and Latin American rural communities are analysed. Challenges for effective collaboration in co-enquiry and lessons learned for research policy and practice are outlined. Based on our case study we suggest that: (1) the established values and practices of academia seem largely unfavourable towards alternative forms of research, such as co-enquiry; (2) the policies and administrative practices of this European Commission funding are unsuitable for adopting participatory forms of enquiry; and (3) the approach to research funding supports short engagements with communities whereas long-term collaborations are more desirable. Based on our case study, we propose more flexible funding models that support face-to-face meetings between researchers and communities from the time of proposal drafting, adaptation of research processes to local dynamics, adaptation of administrative processes to the capacities of all participants, and potential for long-term collaborations. Large-scale funding bodies such as European Commission research programmes are leaders in the evolution of research policy and practice. They have the power and the opportunity to publicly acknowledge the value of partnerships with civil society organisations and communities, actively support co-enquiry, and foment interest in innovative forms of research.
Sensitive Research and the Collision of Advocacy and Research: Consequences for the Researcher
Author: Stewart, Mary White
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Advocacy,Researchers,Law Enforcement,Females,Homicide,Family Violence,Institutionalized Persons,Correctional Institutions,Social Science Research,Ethnography

Doing sensitive research presents particular problems over and above other social science research because of the nature of the issues being asked about and their potential impact on both the participant and the researcher. In some instances, the factors that engage the researcher in the project may also be of interest to advocates who are working for the benefit of the participants in the research. In the current instance, the researcher was interested in understanding the impact of &quot;life without&quot; the possibility of parole on the lives of women convicted of killing their abusers, as well as the impact of their imprisonment and clemency on their families. At the same time, a powerful advocacy group was devoted to gaining clemency for the women. The resulting clash between the goals and purposes of these two entities resulted in a significant impasse and unanticipated consequences for the research agenda as well as the researcher. Analysis of one specific research project and the problems resulting from the clash between researcher and advocates can contribute to the literature on sensitive research as well as on the clashes between advocacy and social science research.
Raising Awareness and Promoting Informal Learning on World Heritage in Southern Africa: The Case of WHACY, a Gamified ICT-Enhanced Tool
Author: Adukaite, Asta
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Informal Education,Consciousness Raising,Heritage Education,Program Development,Program Implementation,Program Evaluation,Tourism,Computer Games,Technology Uses in Education,Outreach Programs,Teacher Surveys,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Barriers,Social Media,Secondary School Curriculum,Learning Experience,Technology Integration,Usability,Foreign Countries,Semi Structured Interviews,Focus Groups

Diffusion of digital games and the trend of gamification in various fields have increased scholars' attention on how digital games or their elements can be introduced into formal and informal learning practices. Majority of the research in this field has been conducted in economically developed regions and not so much in emerging economies. With this study the researchers focused on developing region of Southern African Development Community (SADC). &quot;World Heritage Awareness Campaign for Youth (WHACY) in SADC&quot; is a campaign dedicated to raise awareness and foster informal learning among Southern African youth about the heritage and sustainable tourism in the region. The campaign employed an online and offline gamified learning platform, which was supported by a dedicated website, Facebook page, wiki and offline materials. In one year of operation the campaign reached more than 100K audience. The purpose of this paper is to present the development, implementation, and evaluation of the campaign. The goals of the evaluation were dedicated to assess user experience in terms of engagement and conduciveness to learning as well as exploring the possibility of a gamified application to be integrated into the regular high school tourism curriculum. South African tourism students' and tourism teachers' perspectives were taken into consideration.
Technology-Enhanced Learning in Sports Education Using Clickers: Satisfaction, Performance and Immediacy
Author: Constantinou, Vaso
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Technology Uses in Education,Audience Response Systems,Physical Education,Athletes,Seminars,Statistical Analysis,Performance Based Assessment,Qualitative Research,Focus Groups,Participant Satisfaction,Feedback (Response),Training Methods,Quasiexperimental Design,Cohort Analysis,Questionnaires,Likert Scales,Time Management,Foreign Countries

The article addresses ICT in Education by describing an empirical investigation of technology-enhanced sports education. The study examines the use of clickers by 162 Judo athletes during seminars on the rules and regulations of the sport. Results are based on quantitative data collected on athletes' performances and attitudes and qualitative data from a focus group with the trainers. Findings suggest that the use of clickers is linked to athletes' better satisfaction and performance and enables the feedback loop between athletes and trainers. More importantly, the implementation with the use of clickers can simulate the fast reaction time and decision making required during a Judo battle, which is difficult to achieve without the means of technology. Research of technology in the field of sport/physical education is limited. This study provides an interesting presentation of the potential of clickers to improve training quality for both athletes and trainers.