The current status of preventive intervention programs designed to reduce the school readiness gap for young children at environmental risk is examined in the context of developmental science. A review of program effectiveness suggests that future progress in this area should be grounded in a knowledge base that adopts the framework of…

A web-based activity and testing system (WATS) has features such as adaptive problem sets, videos, and data-driven tools for instructors to monitor and scaffold student learning. Central to WATS adoption and use are questions about the implementation process: What constitutes "good" implementation and how far from "good" is…

Cyber-infrastructure systems are integrated large-scale IT systems designed with the goal of transforming scientific practice by enabling multi-disciplinary, cross-institutional collaboration. Their large scale and socio-technical complexity make design decisions for their underlying architecture practically irreversible. Drawing on three…

In this commentary, the 3 review papers by Reynolds et al. (this issue), Muijs et al. (this issue), and Hopkins, Stringfield, Harris, Stoll, and Mackay (this issue) on "educational effectiveness", "teaching effectiveness", and "school and system improvement" are discussed. In the text, the 3 papers are occasionally…

Complex and adaptive challenges threaten human well-being and sustainability. However, our leadership graduates often lack the capacity and or commitment to address these challenges in a meaningful way. This paper details a five-year study exploring the impact of an interdisciplinary undergraduate course on the development of global capacities,…

In recent years, a credit recognition system has been developing in Chinese higher education institutions. Much research has been done on this development, but it has been concentrated on system building, barriers/issues and international practices. The relationship between credit recognition system reforms and democratisation of higher education…

This paper presents a learning unit that addresses quality design in relational data models. The focus on modeling allows the learning to span analysis, design, and implementation enriching pedagogy across the systems development life cycle. Thriving Systems Theory presents fifteen choice properties that convey design quality in models integrating…

The purpose of this study was to describe how states in the REL Central Region (Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming) evaluate teacher preparation programs and planned changes for evaluation. Publicly available documents were reviewed and interviews were conducted with state education agency representatives…

In this article the author explores how a new library classification system might be designed using some aspects of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) and ideas from other systems to create something that works for school libraries in the year 2020. By examining what works well with the Dewey Decimal System, what features should be carried…

Data centric applications, an important effort of software development in large organizations, have been mostly adopting a software methodology, such as a waterfall or Rational Unified Process, as the framework for its development. These methodologies could work on structural, procedural, or object oriented based applications, but fails to capture…

During an emergency, information availability is critical to preserving life and minimizing damages. During the emergency response, however, information may not be available to those who need it. A community response grid (CRG) can help ameliorate this lack of availability by allowing people to document and distribute emergency information to…

Cross-border higher education has created a need to build capacity -- particularly in the internationalization dimension -- for national quality assurance agencies to evaluate cross-border education provided by foreign educational providers, or jointly by local and foreign institutions. This is quickly becoming a key issue in the Asia-Pacific…

In this paper a STEM Education Outreach (STEM-EO) Model for promoting strategic university outreach programming at Penn State University to the benefit of university, school district and community stakeholders is described. The model considers STEM-EO as a complex system involving overarching learning goals addressed within four outreach domains…

Many institutions implement a distributed antenna system (DAS) as part of a holistic approach to providing better wireless coverage and capacity on campus. A DAS provides wireless service within a particular area or structure via a network of separate antenna nodes that are connected to a common source through fiber or coaxial cable. Because DAS…

This article aims at clarifying the strategic significance of developing medical informatics, conducting SWOT analysis on this discipline and hence establishing the strategic objectives and focal points for its development.