Conducting research can present a range of challenges for students because of the complex skills and knowledge required to have critical engagement with the entire research process. This paper looks at what was involved in shaping the research journey that I am currently undertaking at a Higher Education Institution (HEI). The focus is on research…

Institutions of higher education are operating in an increasingly complex and competitive environment. This paper identifies contemporary challenges facing institutions of higher education worldwide and explores the potential of Big Data in addressing these challenges. The paper then outlines a number of opportunities and challenges associated…

Increasing numbers of states have incorporated measures of students' academic growth into their data and accountability policies. Measuring growth is a statistically complicated task and complex growth measures can be easy to misinterpret. This paper reports on a survey of 317 Massachusetts principals' understanding of the Student Growth…

In the last few years, open textbook development has picked up dramatically due both to the expense of commercially published textbooks and the increasing availability of high-quality OER alternatives. While this offers a tremendous benefit in terms of lowering student textbook costs, the question remains, to what extent (if any) do open textbooks…

This paper aims to illustrate how data visualization could be utilized to identify errors prior to modeling, using an example with multi-dimensional item response theory (MIRT). MIRT combines item response theory and factor analysis to identify a psychometric model that investigates two or more latent traits. While it may seem convenient to…

Learning analytics is an emerging field in which sophisticated analytic tools are used to inform and improve learning and teaching. Researchers within a regional university in Australia identified an association between interaction and student success in online courses and subsequently developed a learning analytics system aimed at informing…

Even before Florence Nightingale diagrammed soldiers' changing mortality rates to save lives, we have seen clever design used to convey statistics and other complex concepts. In the field of education, student data is used extensively, and those who share such data need to ensure this communication is effective. This article is based on education…

"Which preschool programs best prepare students for kindergarten?" "Which students from which schools need remediation classes in higher education?" "How successful are college graduates in the workforce by major or credential?" These are just a few of the questions that can be answered by a robust longitudinal data…

We present an analysis of log data from a semester's use of the OpenDSA eTextbook system with the goal of determining the most difficult course topics in a data structures course. While experienced instructors can identify which topics students most struggle with, this often comes only after much time and effort, and does not provide real-time…

This study examines what aspiring principal candidates in one university-based preparation program learned as a result of developing and implementing a school improvement plan. A case study approach was used to examine 53 aspiring principals' reports of what they learned from implementing school improvement plans. Findings revealed three…

Probabilistic reasoning underpins much of middle school students' future work in data analysis and inferential statistics. Unfortunately for many middle school students, probabilistic reasoning is not intuitive. One specific area in which students seem to struggle is determining the probability of compound events (Moritz and Watson 2000). Research…

Using a constructivist approach to teacher education, the present study compared the learning outcomes of students in two child development courses infused with instruction in how early education and childcare policy is formed, implemented, and applied. The intervention course, however, included a community-based, semester-long early education and…

Substance abuse in adolescents has been recognized as a public health problem at the national and global levels. Adolescents are at risk for experimenting with substances. School nurses in secondary schools are well positioned to screen and counsel students on substance use. In this project, school nurses' self-efficacy levels increased in using…

Increasingly, students training in the biological sciences depend on a proper grounding in biological statistics, data science and experimental design. As biological datasets increase in size and complexity, transparent data management and analytical methods are essential skills for undergraduate biologists. We propose that using the software R…

The use of large, open-source data sets is ubiquitous in scientific research. Scientists--ranging from meteorologists to chemists to epidemiologists--are researching and investigating critical questions using data that they have not themselves collected. To contribute to the growing effort to bring data science into classrooms, the authors have…