Adolescent Literacy and Textbooks: An Annotated Bibliography

A companion report to Carnegie's Time to Act, provides an annotated bibliography of research on textbook design and reading comprehension for fourth through twelfth grade, arranged by topic. Calls for a dialogue between publishers and researchers

The Structured Process Modeling Method (SPMM) : what is the best way for me to construct a process model?

More and more organizations turn to the construction of process models to support strategical and operational tasks. At the same time, reports indicate quality issues for a considerable part of these models, caused by modeling errors. Therefore, the research described in this paper investigates the development of a practical method to determine and train an optimal process modeling strategy that aims to decrease the number of cognitive errors made during modeling. Such cognitive errors originate in inadequate cognitive processing caused by the inherent complexity of constructing process models. The method helps modelers to derive their personal cognitive profile and the related optimal cognitive strategy that minimizes these cognitive failures. The contribution of the research consists of the conceptual method and an automated modeling strategy selection and training instrument. These two artefacts are positively evaluated by a laboratory experiment covering multiple modeling sessions and involving a total of 149 master students at Ghent University

A Process to Implement an Artificial Neural Network and Association Rules Techniques to Improve Asset Performance and Energy Efficiency

In this paper, we address the problem of asset performance monitoring, with the intention of both detecting any potential reliability problem and predicting any loss of energy consumption e ciency. This is an important concern for many industries and utilities with very intensive capitalization in very long-lasting assets. To overcome this problem, in this paper we propose an approach to combine an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with Data Mining (DM) tools, specifically with Association Rule (AR) Mining. The combination of these two techniques can now be done using software which can handle large volumes of data (big data), but the process still needs to ensure that the required amount of data will be available during the assets’ life cycle and that its quality is acceptable. The combination of these two techniques in the proposed sequence di ers from previous works found in the literature, giving researchers new options to face the problem. Practical implementation of the proposed approach may lead to novel predictive maintenance models (emerging predictive analytics) that may detect with unprecedented precision any asset’s lack of performance and help manage assets’ O&M accordingly. The approach is illustrated using specific examples where asset performance monitoring is rather complex under normal operational conditions.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad DPI2015-70842-

Intelligent tutoring systems for systems engineering methodologies

The general goal is to provide the technology required to build systems that can provide intelligent tutoring in IDEF (Integrated Computer Aided Manufacturing Definition Method) modeling. The following subject areas are covered: intelligent tutoring systems for systems analysis methodologies; IDEF tutor architecture and components; developing cognitive skills for IDEF modeling; experimental software; and PC based prototype

ADAPTATION AND TRANSLATION OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER RATING SCALES FOR SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN: EVALUATING ADHERENCE TO THE INTERNATIONAL TEST COMMISSION GUIDELINES

he current review examines adaptations and translations of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) rating scales for school-aged children around the world. ASD rating scales are a quick and efficient way to diagnosing ASD, and adaptations of ASD scales offer low-cost methods to make tools available around the world. The International Test Commission guidelines (ITC, 2017) provide a rigorous framework for researchers to adapt and translate psychological tests. This review used the X-CAGAM (Duke, 2019) a tool developed to operationalize the guidelines to examine how well the selected ASD measures adhere to the ITC guidelines. Fourteen adaptations and translations were included in this review and all scored as “poor quality” on the X-CAGAM. The measures showed strong psychometrics, however lacked a thorough analysis of the effects of culture and language on the items and the methods employed. This review presents and discusses the sample characteristics, psychometrics, and significant other findings related to the measures and their adherence to ITC guidelines. Finally, suggestions for future research and practice are provided

Situational judgment tests as measures of 21st century skills: Evidence across Europe and Latin America

Over the years, various governmental, employment, and academic organizations have identified a list of skills to successfully master the challenges of the 21st century. So far, an adequate assessment of these skills across countries has remained challenging. Limitations inherent in the use of self-reports (e.g., lack of self-insight, socially desirable responding, response style bias, reference group bias, etc.) have spurred on the search for methods that could complement or even substitute self-report inventories. Situational judgment tests (SJTs) have been proposed as one of the complements/alternatives to the traditional self-report inventories. SJTs are low-fidelity simulations that confront participants with multiple domainrelevant situations and request to choose from a set of predefined responses. Our objectives are twofold: (a) outlining how a combined emic-etic approach can be used for developing SJT items that can be used across geographical regions and (b) investigating whether SJT scores can be compared across regions. Our data come from Laureate International Universities (N = 5,790) and comprise test-takers from Europe and Latin America who completed five different SJTs that were developed in line with a combined emic-etic approach. Results showed evidence for metric measurement invariance across participants from Europe and Latin America for all five SJTs. Implications for the use of SJTs as measures of 21st century skills are discussed

Using Cognitive Interviewing for the Semantic Enhancement of Multi-Lingual Versions of Personality Questionnaires

We discuss the use of cognitive interviewing with bilinguals as an integral part of cross-cultural adaptation of personality questionnaires. The aim is to maximize semantic equivalence to increase the likelihood of items maintaining the intended structure and meaning in the target language. We refer to this part of adaptation as semantic enhancement, and integrate cognitive interviewing within it as a tool for scrutinizing translations, the connotative meaning, and the psychological impact of items across languages. During the adaptation of a work-based personality questionnaire from English to Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), and Spanish, we cognitively interviewed 12 bilingual participants about 136 items in different languages (17% of all items), of which 67 were changed. A content analysis categorizing the reasons for amending items elicited eleven errors that affect two identified forms of semantic equivalence. We provide the resultant coding scheme as a framework for designing cognitive interviewing protocols and propose a procedure for implementing them. We discuss implications for theory and practic

Challenges of Curriculum Reform in the Context of Decentralization: The Response of Teachers to a Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) and Its Implementation in Schools

This study focuses on the time when the Indonesia government launched a new national curriculum, CBC, in response to both the need to produce human resources to survive in the era of globalization and the change in the government system from centralization to decentralization, which resulted in increasingly greater responsibility at the local level in implementing the reforms. As the reforms regarding the decentralization of certain educational functions and processes in Indonesia continue, understanding the impact on curriculum reform and the changes at local school levels will be essential.The objective of this study was to investigate the ways in which primary school teachers respond to the implementation of CBC, particularly issues like curriculum diversification, learning materials, syllabus design, and student assessment. Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language), one of the subjects in the primary school, was selected as a focus of interest in this study. Sixty-five primary schools from two provinces were selected: Jakarta municipality (represents urban community) and Kodya Bandung, West Java (represents sub-urban community); and 286 teachers were invited to participate. The survey instrument featured "closed-ended" questions of twenty-five education-related and six demographics-related questions in different. A descriptive statistic was applied to the SPSS and used for data analysis. The current study reveals that over the long-term, in-service teacher training (INSET) has addressed only one third of the training badly needed by teachers. Teachers claimed to know what CBC is, but in actual classroom implementation of CBC, these teachers were lost, returning instead to the former curriculum, which they were more comfortable teaching. This study also investigates the policy issues regarding teachers' improvements using the three sets of terminology- "adopt," "adapt," and "implement" -to portray the connection between the conceptual and the practical sides of classroom teaching and learning activities.The implications of this study for further policy implementation of the CBC address two issues: the needs of teacher's training and the teachers' quality improvements. Regarding the government policy of decentralization, the policy actors- the "center," teachers' forums and the Curriculum Network Group- must establish a strong collaborative team of professional agents that will improve the quality of teachers