What does it mean for a model to be a better model? One conceptualization, indeed a common one in Educational Data Mining, is that a better model is the one that fits the data better, that is, higher prediction accuracy. However, oftentimes, models that maximize prediction accuracy do not provide meaningful parameter estimates, making them less…

Statistical knowledge is required for students in a range of disciplines. However, there are limited educator resources that exist for applying statistics to solve real-world problems. This investigation provides one approach to teaching statistics using entrepreneurial-minded learning (as a way to connect real-world applications and value…

This study aimed to examine authentic models of science assessment in assessing the competence of senior high school students who met the criteria of validity, practicality, and effectiveness. The methodology applied was an evaluation and developmental research. Research was conducted in senior high school in accordance with the needs of the…

California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing (Commission) requires all programs of preliminary multiple and single subject teacher preparation to use a Commission-approved Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) as one of the program completion requirements for prospective teacher candidates. Three TPA models were approved by the Commission: (1)…

Vocabulary knowledge is essential to educational progress. High quality vocabulary instruction requires supportive contextual examples to teach word meaning and proper usage. Identifying such contexts by hand for a large number of words can be difficult. In this work, we take a statistical learning approach to engineer a system that predicts…

Vocabulary knowledge is essential to educational progress. High quality vocabulary instruction requires supportive contextual examples to teach word meaning and proper usage. Identifying such contexts by hand for a large number of words can be difficult. In this work, we take a statistical learning approach to engineer a system that predicts…

Additive Factors Model (AFM) and Performance Factors Analysis (PFA) are two popular models of student learning that employ logistic regression to estimate parameters and predict performance. This is in contrast to Bayesian Knowledge Tracing (BKT) which uses a Hidden Markov Model formalism. While all three models tend to make similar predictions,…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the performance of midwives based on the task commitment. This was an observational analytic with cross sectional approach. Multistage random sampling was used to determine the public health center, proportional random sampling to selected participants. The samples were 222 midwives in the public health…

This paper summarises a new method of grouping postgraduate taught (PGT) courses introduced at Oxford Brookes University as a part of a Portfolio Review. Instead of classifying courses by subject, the new cluster approach uses statistical methods to group the courses based on factors including flexibility of study options, level of specialisation,…

People participate in vocational education and training (VET) for a variety of reasons and at different stages of their life. Some undertake VET to gain the vocational skills necessary to enter the labour market for the first time, while others enter in order to upgrade existing skills, learn new ones, or simply for personal interest. Successful…

Background: In low-stakes educational assessments, test takers might show a performance decline (PD) on end-of-test items. PD is a concern in educational assessments, especially when groups of students are to be compared on the proficiency variable because item responses gathered in the groups could be differently affected by PD. In order to…

Organizational commitment is a major determinant of organizational effectiveness and desirable employee attitudes and behaviours. Highly committed academic staff are the backbone of universities since they play an important role in the success of their institutions. This study investigated factors associated with organizational commitment among…

Monitoring and evaluating staff tutors necessitates constant follow-up to ensure that they are in line with the University's mission and vision. This has raised a fundamental educational question: how to coach rather than monitor the tutors. To answer this question, Cottrell's (2008) CREAM (Creative, Reflective, Effective, Active, Motivated)…

The objective of this study is to contribute to Quality Management Systems (QMS) and their impact on schools in the Basque Country, Spain. Specifically, it analyses two models: the EFQM Excellence Model, which originated in the business world, and the Integrated Quality Project (IQP) Model, which has a humanistic focus and arose from an…

The lack of an engaging pedagogy and the highly competitive atmosphere in introductory science courses tend to discourage students from pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. Once in a STEM field, academic and social integration has been long thought to be important for students' persistence. Yet, it is rarely…