This article assesses the pedagogic value of the "chat" facility in the Blackboard integrated learning platform. It draws on a case study carried out by the author in the 2001-2 academic session. A level three class in research methods involved students in group working away from class and student feedback indicated that more support was needed to…

Strong associations between civilian posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) scales and measures of general psychological distress suggest that the scales are nonspecific to PTSD. Three common PTSD scales were administered to 122 undergraduates who had experienced an emotionally salient, nontraumatic event: a college examination. Results indicated…

Recent reforms in K-12 education have increasingly emphasized the educational system as the unit of change. The theory underlying systemic or systemwide educational reform is that powerful improvements in teaching and learning can come from developing coherence and alignment across the complex and different elements and components of an…

Criterion-referenced (Livingston) and norm-referenced (Gilmer-Feldt) techniques were used to measure the internal consistency reliability of Folsteins Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) on a large sample (N = 418) of elderly medical patients. Two administration and scoring variants of the MMSE Attention and Calculation section (Serial 7s only…

The authors manipulated repetitions and/or changes of abstract response rules and the specific stimulus- response (S-R) associations used under these rules. Experiments 1 and 2, assessing trial-to-trial priming effects, showed that repetition of complete S-R couplings produced only benefits when the rule also repeated (i.e., rule-S-R conjunctions)…

The teaching faculty for this course sought to address their own concerns about the quality of student learning in an impersonal large lecture biology class for majors, the difficulties in getting to know each student by name, and difficulties in soliciting answers and reactions from the students during the lecture. Questions addressed by this…

In UK higher education a primary aim of business IT-related qualifications is the preparation of students for a relevant career. In this article we discuss an approach to teaching business IT ethics in a university context that prepares students for the ethical problems that they may meet in their future IT careers, and we demonstrate how this…

Type I error rates were examined for several fit indices available in GGUM2000: extensions of Infit, Outfit, Andrich's X(2), and the log-likelihood ratio X(2). Infit and Outfit had Type I error rates much lower than nominal alpha. Andrich's X(2) had Type I error rates much higher than nominal alpha, particularly for shorter tests or larger sample…

A well-known problem in the analysis of test and questionnaire data is that some item scores may be missing. Advanced methods for the imputation of missing data are available, such as multiple imputation under the multivariate normal model and imputation under the saturated logistic model (Schafer, 1997). Accompanying software was made available…

The current study examined the prototype-matching technique for using the five-factor model (FFM) of personality to assess personality disorders (PDs) and their correlates. The sample was composed of 69 psychiatric patients, most of whom suffered from affective or anxiety disorders. The participants were predominantly outpatients (78%), Caucasian…

The authors assess the replicability of the two-factor model of underreporting response style. They then examine the relative performance of scales measuring these styles in analog (ARD) and differential prevalence group (DPG) designs. Principal components analysis produced a two-factor structure corresponding to self-deceptive (SD) and impression…

The authors examined and compared the susceptibility of three Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) scale sets (Clinical, Restructured Clinical [RC], and Content) to over- and underreporting using five analog samples. Two samples of 85 and 191 undergraduate students, respectively, took the MMPI-2 under underreporting versus…

In this article a short overview is given of the relationship between autism and learning disability. Autism exists with any level of intelligence, but many individuals with autism suffer also from learning disability. Although both disorders show overlap in some behaviours they are different in many aspects. Are they distinct syndromes which…

Assessments of clinical skills of medical students rely increasingly on standardized patients demonstrating medical cases with faculty rating performance. The common finding of inconsistency of scores across cases is often referred to as case specificity. A multivariate generalizability model reveals that overall case specificity cannot explain…

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is one of the most frequently used instruments in the study of depression both within and outside of the United States. Though developed primarily with European American clinical populations, the BDI has been applied in nonclinical and non-Western samples. To determine whether such a practice is warranted, the…