Problem-solving frameworks have the potential to promote objective data-based decisions that increase the likelihood students are matched to appropriate evidence-based interventions. Unfortunately, cognitive biases, heuristics, and fallacies can lead to erroneous conclusions within problem-solving frameworks. Some of these effects have been…

New Public Management (NPM)-inspired higher education (HE) governance has become increasingly topical in recent years. However, while existing research provides an overall understanding of relevant changes, it does not offer a complete analysis of complex governance and falls prey to deterministic and relatively narrow ideological impositions.…

Access to high-quality education at scale is limited by the difficulty of providing student feedback on open-ended assignments in structured domains like programming, graphics, and short response questions. This problem has proven to be exceptionally difficult: for humans, it requires large amounts of manual work, and for computers, until…

Skilled Technical Sciences (STS) programs prepare students for success through academic integration and technical skill development. This fact sheet from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of College and Career Readiness, Skilled Technical Sciences provides information on these programs.

In this article, the author presents an asymmetric version of the familiar public goods classroom experiment, in which some players are given more tokens to invest than others, and players collectively decide whether to divide the return to the group investment asymmetrically as well. The asymmetry between players raises normative issues about…

This paper presents a simplified approach for the application of material efficiency metrics to linear and convergent synthesis plans encountered in organic synthesis courses. Computations are facilitated and automated using intuitively designed Microsoft Excel spreadsheets without invoking abstract mathematical formulas. The merits of this…

After waiting over nine months for the results of his PhD thesis the author was motivated to conduct some qualitative research on the reasons why the system of examiners' reports is so slow and goes on to explain how this problem could be improved by the recruitment of retired academics.

Research into virtual role-based learning has progressed over the past decade. Modern issues include gauging the difficulty of designing a goal system capable of meeting the requirements of students with different knowledge levels, and the reasonability and possibility of taking advantage of the well-designed formula and techniques served in other…

This article discusses five generally accepted reasons to use data as a part of an educator's ongoing professional practice. Of course, there are many other more specific reasons one might look at data, but these five cover the overarching need in an educational setting. The five major purposes for using data are: (1) To enhance understanding and…

Computer operations involving complex numbers, essential in such applications as Fourier transforms or image processing, are normally performed in a "divide-and-conquer" approach dealing separately with real and imaginary parts. A number of proposals have treated complex numbers as a single unit but all have foundered on the problem of the…

Many students find it difficult to learn the kinds of knowledge and thinking required by college or high school courses in mathematics, science, or other complex domains. Thus they often emerge with significant misconceptions, fragmented knowledge, and inadequate problem-solving skills. Most instructors or textbook authors approach their teaching…

Current focuses of scientific and technical research in socialist countries' universities and institutes include increasing creativity, developing student skills for independent problem-solving, computer applications, increasing research efficiency, and integration of research and production. (MSE)

Discusses the development of new computer systems that will overcome the "slowness" of modern computers. Describes ways to increase the speed of single processors by keeping more of a processor's components active. Outlines the theory behind the linking together of many processors to form a parallel computer. (TW)

College programs winning the 1992 American Association of University Administrators awards for outstanding academic administration during times of fiscal constraint are described briefly. Awards were given for total quality management (Oregon State University), enrollment management (Indiana University), and financial management (Chaffey Community…

A variety of consortial arrangements in higher education are discussed noting advantages such as savings realized through the cooperative efforts, enrichment of academic programs, improved student services and community outreach, as well as obstacles (organizational, procedural, and cultural). Success factors identified include presence of…