Several daily phenomena around us can be modeled as time-evolving networks. Working with expressive and tractable models for the evolution of such networks can improve different prediction and decision-making tasks. While the literature has studied many approaches to model such networked phenomena partially, multiple gaps remain. This thesis is an…

The "surprisingly popular" method (SP) of aggregating individual judgments has shown promise in overcoming a weakness of other crowdsourcing methods--situations in which the majority is incorrect. This method relies on participants' estimates of other participants' judgments; when an option is chosen more often than the average…

Objective: This study examines how accurately a small set of short-term academic indicators can approximate long-term outcomes of community college students so that decision-makers can take informed actions based on those indicators to evaluate the current progress of large-scale reform efforts on long-term outcomes, which in practice will not be…

The continuing importance of data analytics is not lost on higher education leaders, who face a multitude of challenges, including increasing operating costs, dwindling state support, limits to tuition increases, and increased competition from the for-profit sector. To navigate these challenges, savvy leaders must leverage data to make sound…

Predictive studies have been widely undertaken in the field of education to provide strategic information about the extensive set of processes related to teaching and learning, as well as about what variables predict certain educational outcomes, such as academic achievement or dropout. As in any other area, there is a set of standard techniques…

Previous characterizations of rumination do not account for why a reflective style of ruminative response to negative mood, as opposed to a brooding style, is linked with greater creativity--especially when indecision is high. Moreover, less is known about ruminative responses to positive mood. The purpose of this investigation is to demonstrate…

During the transition period between the use of exclusively old SAT® scores and the use of exclusively new SAT scores, college admission offices will be receiving both types of scores from students. Making an admission decision based on new SAT scores can be challenging at first because institutions have methods, procedures, and models based on…

With large student enrollment, MOOC instructors face the unique challenge in deciding when to intervene in forum discussions with their limited bandwidth. We study this problem of "instructor intervention." Using a large sample of forum data culled from 61 courses, we design a binary classifier to predict whether an instructor should…

The purpose of this study is to exam in-depth, the Comprehensive, Powerful, Academic Database (CPAD), a data decision-making tool that determines and identifies students at-risk of dropping out of school, and how the CPAD assists administrators and teachers at an elementary campus to monitor progress, curriculum, and performance to improve student…

Leadership is a multifaceted skill as it requires the alignment of body, spirit and mind (Brown & Moshavi, 2005). Furthermore, it is a combination of behavior, actions and interaction between leaders and followers. It is characterized by the leaders' decisions' ability to influence followers' performance and achievement through their…

A recent resurgence in logical-rule theories of categorization has motivated the development of a class of models that predict not only choice probabilities but also categorization response times (RTs; Fific, Little, & Nosofsky, 2010). The new models combine mental-architecture and random-walk approaches within an integrated framework and…

Forming, pursing, and achieving life tasks constitute important determinants of subjective well-being (SWB). A principal life task for emerging adults involves deciding about career goals. Prior research indicates that depression predicts SWB and may be linked to lower levels of career decidedness. We tested whether or not career decidedness…

Internet access in the workplace has become ubiquitous in many organizations. Often, employees need this access to perform their duties. However, many studies report a large percentage of employees use their work Internet access for non-work-related activities. These activities can result in reduced efficiency, increased vulnerability to cyber…

Predicting the future is now in the hands of K12 administrators. While for years districts have collected thousands of pieces of student data, educators have been using them only for data-driven decision-making or formative assessments, which give a "rear-view" perspective only. Now, using predictive analysis--the pulling together of data over…

Among the plethora of career theories and counseling practices, human emotion continues to be underrepresented. The paucity is evoking discontentment. For many career specialists, a distal role for emotionality has become untenable. This study demonstrated emotional intelligence (EI) associates with familiar constructs within the career…