This dissertation focuses on developing and evaluating hybrid approaches for analyzing free-form text in the medical domain. This research draws on natural language processing (NLP) techniques that are used to parse and extract concepts based on a controlled vocabulary. Once important concepts are extracted, additional machine learning algorithms,…

Knowledge brokering (KB) may be one approach of helping researchers and decision makers effectively communicate their needs and abilities, and move toward increased use of evidence in health care. A multidisciplinary research team in Nova Scotia, Canada, has created a dedicated KB position with the goal of improving access to quality colorectal…

This paper discusses the adoption of an integrated approach to children's services. The paper opens by introducing the Scottish policy statements that recommend that it is at the level of the school and community that integrated services need to be effective for the aims of social justice and inclusion to be achieved. The policy discourses are…

One of the most important issues in the reorganisation of engineering education is to consider new pedagogical techniques to help students develop skills and an adaptive expertise. This expertise consists of being able to recognise the nature of a problem intuitively, and also recognising recurring patterns in different types of problems. In the…

Design-based learning is a teaching approach akin to problem-based learning but one to which the design of artefacts, systems and solutions in project-based settings is central. Although design-based learning has been employed in the practice of higher engineering education, it has hardly been theorised at this educational level. The aim of this…

The paper by Wilson and Moore (this volume), based on the Messick Lecture delivered in 2006 at the annual Language Testing Research Colloquium in Melbourne, may present a familiar challenge to some language testers: of reading outside one's comfort zone. The distinctive character of language testing lies in its combination of two primary fields of…

Our study integrates automated natural language-oriented assessment and analysis methodologies into feasible reading comprehension tasks. With the newly developed T-MITOCAR toolset, prose text can be automatically converted into an association net which has similarities to a concept map. The "text to graph" feature of the software is based on…

In this article the author describes challenges associated with integrating physiological measures of stress into developmental research, especially in the domains of memory and cognition. An initial critical challenge concerns how to define stress, which can refer to one or a series of events, a response, the consequence of that response, an…

Federal legislation in the United States currently mandates that technology be integrated into school curricula because of the popular belief that learning is enhanced through the use of technology. The challenge for educators is to understand how best to teach with technology while developing the technological expertise of their students. This…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stability of three distinct tutor behaviors (1) use of subject-matter expertise, (2) social congruence and (3) cognitive congruence, in a problem-based learning (PBL) environment. The data comprised the input from 16,047 different students to a survey of 762 tutors administered in three consecutive…

This study identifies a set of competencies displayed in the successful distance learner. It employed a three-phased approach. Phase I, conducted to develop an initial list of competencies, comprised Behavioral Event Interviews with nine successful distance learners. In Phase II, these competencies were reviewed, elaborated and categorized by…

In this article, we present a dynamic systems approach to instructional systems design (ISD). The fourth generation of ISD represents the attempt to establish a system that can adapt to individual learning and performance problems/needs while also being able to continuously update itself. It is learning-theory-neutral and takes into account the…

A special breed of superintendents who have developed expertise in a particular area find ways of sharing it in other venues as outside consultants. They pull extra duty to put their special skills into practice, to give back to their communities, to stay current and grounded in the field, or to enhance their professional reputations. They teach…

Bigger classes are the reality for more and more teachers across the country. In the 2010-11 school year, 57 percent of districts increased their class sizes, and 65 percent anticipate doing so in 2011-12, according to a December 2010 survey by the American Association of School Administrators. So how do teachers cope? Experts and veteran teachers…

The Script Concordance Test (SCT) uses a panel-based, aggregate scoring method that aims to capture the variability of responses of experienced practitioners to particular clinical situations. The use of this type of scoring method is a key determinant of the tool's discriminatory power, but deviant answers could potentially diminish the…