The Swift Turbidity Marker is an optical instrument developed to measure the level of water turbidity. The components and configuration selected for the system are based on common turbidity meter design concepts but use a simplified methodology to produce rapid turbidity measurements. This work is aimed at high school physics students and is the…

An underlying theme of this paper is that it can be easier and more efficient to conduct valid and effective research studies in online environments than in traditional classrooms. Taking advantage of the "big data" available in an online university, we conducted a study in which a massive online database was used to predict student…

This article discusses how Purdue University is changing the academic behavior of struggling students. At Purdue, they've developed Signals as a means of helping students better understand where they stand gradewise early enough so that they can seek help and raise their grade or drop the course without the penalty of a failing grade. They knew…

Affecting university rankings, school reputation, and financial well-being, student retention has become one of the most important measures of success for higher education institutions. From the institutional perspective, improving student retention starts with a thorough understanding of the causes behind the attrition. Such an understanding is…

The demand for graduates with exposure in Cloud Computing is on the rise. For many educational institutions, the challenge is to decide on how to incorporate appropriate cloud-based technologies into their curricula. In this paper, we describe our design and experiences of integrating Cloud Computing components into seven third/fourth-year…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) Expectations for Assessment Reports: A Descriptive Analysis (Keston H. Fulcher, Matthew Swain, and Chris D. Orem); (2) Editor's Notes: A Surprising Reaction (Trudy W. Banta); (3) Getting SMART with Assessment: ACTION Steps to Institutional Effectiveness (Eric Daffron…

Since its inception, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has been committed to the practice of documenting its statistical methods for its customers and of seeking to avoid misinterpretation of its published data. The reason for this policy is to assure customers that proper statistical standards and techniques have been observed,…

There are increasing demands for higher levels of data assurance in higher education. This paper explores some of the drivers for this trend, and then explains what stakeholders mean by the concept of data assurance, since this has not been well defined previously. The paper captures insights from existing literature, stakeholders, auditors, and…

Information and communications technologies today are used in virtually any university course when students prepare their papers. ICT is also needed after people are graduated from university and enter the job market. This author is an instructor in the field of informatics related to health care and social sciences at the Riga Stradins…

One of the main problems faced by university students is to take the right decision in relation to their academic itinerary based on available information (for example courses, schedules, sections, classrooms and professors). In this context, this work proposes the use of a recommendation system based on data mining techniques to help students to…

This document presents the key findings from the 2009 ECAR (EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research) study of institutional data management, which examines the policies and practices by which higher education institutions effectively collect, protect, and use digital information assets to meet academic and business needs. Importantly, it also…

Green information technology (IT) is grabbing more mainstream headlines--and for good reason. Computing, data processing, and electronic file storage collectively account for a significant and growing share of energy consumption in the business world and on higher education campuses. With greater scrutiny of all activities that contribute to an…

In building intelligent tutoring systems, it is critical to be able to understand and diagnose student responses in interactive problem solving. However, building this understanding into a computer-based intelligent tutor is a time-intensive process usually conducted by subject experts. Much of this time is spent in building production rules that…

University student internships can be an important pre-professional experience for the student and be an immense benefit to an employer. Because of the findings of a 6-Sigma project to reduce engineering errors, a design configurator was to be rebuilt to include updated design information and expanded product coverage. Lacking available full time…

Annual giving is the number one indicator that someone will make a major or planned gift. Annual funds are the meat and potatoes of fundraising. But if the annual fund has recently taken a backseat to major and megagifts, the recession made a bad situation even worse. Today, most annual fund performance indicators have plummeted. Virtually all…