Participatory sensing is a data collection method in which communities of people collect and share data to investigate large-scale processes. These data have many features often associated with the big data paradigm: they are rich and multivariate, include non-numeric data, and are collected as determined by an algorithm rather than by traditional…

Due to rapid advancements in our ability to collect, process, and analyze massive amounts of data, it is now possible for educational institutions to gain new insights into how people learn (Kumar, 2013). E-learning has become an important part of education, and this form of learning is especially suited to the use of big data and data analysis,…

Analytics derived from the student learning environment provide new insights into the collegiate experience; they can be used as a supplement to or, to some extent, in place of traditional surveys. To serve this purpose, however, greater attention must be paid to conceptual frameworks and to advancing institutional systems, activating new…

This article develops a perspective on big data in education, drawing on a broadly liberal conception of education's primary purpose. We focus especially on the rise of so-called learning analytics and the associated rise of digitization, which we evaluate according to the liberal view that education should seek to cultivate individuality and…

In this book, educators learn what they need to know about the action research cycle and get practical help for working through each step of the cycle--from choosing a topic and generating research questions to analyzing data and reporting results and conclusions. In a clear, concise, user-friendly approach, the author helps readers through the…

A study of nine headteachers in England, using a research protocol developed and carried out in Ontario, finds implications for the professional development of school leaders with respect to their decision-making to achieve greater equity. The types of professional development that leaders found to be most effective within their particular…

This paper presents the concepts and observations in the author's keynote address at the May 2019 "Opportunity versus Challenge: Exploring Usage of Log-File and Process Data in International Large-Scale Assessments" conference in Dublin, Ireland. This paper recaps briefly some key points that emerged at the December 2018 ETS symposium on…

Higher Education Institutions in England are an integral part of the government's social mobility strategy. Contextualisation of undergraduate admissions decisions has emerged as a key tool towards progressing social mobility objectives. The present paper builds on our previous 2013 research by describing findings from 15 qualitative interviews…

Background: Assessing individual and organisational capacity for evidence use is essential for developing evidence-based strategies. Aims and objectives: This study aimed to assess the psychometric and practical properties of existing tools to assess the capacity to use evidence at the individual and organisational levels of health policy and…

Developmental surveillance tools are used to closely monitor the early development of infants and young children. This study provides a novel implementation of a multidimensional item response model, using Bayesian hierarchical priors, to construct developmental profiles for a small sample of children (N = 115) with sparse data collected through…

Research-practice partnerships often face a fundamental tension: well-designed, high-quality research takes time, but practitioners and policy makers need answers to pressing questions as soon as possible. In this article, Jason Sachs, Meghan McCormick, JoAnn Hsueh, and Catherine Snow discuss this mismatch between the tight timelines of…

Over the last ten years, in Washington community and technical colleges (CTC) there has been a great leap forward in access and use of data for setting and measuring goals, monitoring progress, and identifying equity gaps. Despite much progress, faculty members in career and technical education (CTE) programs still often have difficulty accessing…

This essay describes my personal experience as a doctoral candidate collecting data for my dissertation during the COVID-19 pandemic. After providing the context for my own study, I lay out three main ideas that emerged while collecting data. These main ideas involve including participants in the decision-making process, sharing one another's…

Purpose: When we speak, we gesture, and indeed, persons with aphasia gesture more frequently. The reason(s) for this is still being investigated, spurring an increase in the number of studies of gesture in persons with aphasia. As the number of studies increases, so too does the need for a shared set of best practices for gesture research in…

Data literacy, or students' abilities to understand, interpret, and think critically about data, is an increasing need in K-16 science education. Ocean Tracks College Edition (OTCE) sought to address this need by creating a set of learning modules that engage students in using large-scale, professionally collected animal migration and physical…