Promoting Environments that Measure Outcomes: Partnerships for Change

This paper describes the development of the PrEMO© (Promoting Environments that Measure Outcomes) program. PrEMO© is an innovative model promoting evidence-based practice (EBP) while developing capacity and quality of Level II fieldwork placements. The PrEMO© program is described from initiation to completion, including development of site-specific learning objectives, the twelve week schedule and the role of faculty mentorship. Occupational therapy (OT) students, and university OT program faculty including academic fieldwork coordinators, partner with fieldwork educators at the site to implement EBP using a data-driven decision making (DDDM) process to guide the development of evidence-based practices. PrEMO© appears to be a useful strategy for building Level II fieldwork capacity and enhancing student and fieldwork educators’ knowledge and skills about EBP and outcome measurement in routine OT practice

Portfolio As A Teaching Method: A Capstone Project To Promote Recognition Of Professional Growth

A reflective portfolio as a capstone assignment was selected to accomplish recognition by teachers completing a science, technology, mathematics, engineering master’s program for elementary teachers about their professional and personal changes and to provide program evaluators additional qualitative data regarding attainment of program goals. As the teachers in the program (N=20) neared the completion of the program, they were required to take a comprehensive look at their experience. This data-driven, reflective portfolio experience showed that the process clarified teachers’ learning in strategies to improve student learning, importance of reflective practice, their role as a teacher leader, dedication to life-long learning and confidence in being an effective professional educator

Improving the Enterprise Requirements and Acquisition Model\u27s Development Test and Evaluation Process Fidelity

Shrinking budgets and dynamic military conflicts have driven Department of Defense (DoD) leadership to reform how the military acquires weapon systems with the goal of decreasing program schedules and costs, while maximizing performance. With fifty years of reform, the DoD has been unable to adequately control program schedule objectives. Previous research attempted to support acquisition reforms through modeling and simulation. The Enterprise Requirements and Acquisition Model (ERAM) captures a program\u27s progression through the Defense Acquisition Management System to gain insight into significant delays that impact program schedule and probability of completion. A past unexpected result included the insignificant impact that Developmental Test and Evaluation (DT&E) had to a program\u27s overall schedule. This research improves this fidelity of the DT&E activities through data collections, subject matter expert feedback, modeling and simulation, and Monte Carlo analysis. Interventions included modifying the probability of passing the Test Readiness Review, System Verification Review, decreasing the maximum delay to a program\u27s first test mission, improvements in Responsible Test Organization resource availability, test item quality, and test item quantity. Several interventions significantly reduced major programs schedule by 15% (21 months). The research demonstrates a methodology fo quantitatively supporting acquisition reform interventions by characterizing DT&E activities and delays

Student engagement and the learning incentive program: Evidence and applications

This paper presents the Learning Incentive Program (LIP), which is an innovative teaching resource designed to enhance a range of learning-relevant outcomes through increasing student engagement while maintaining intrinsic motivation. Specifically, the LIP involves interactive weekly online formative quizzes, primarily designed to encourage engagement. As incentive for regularly engaging in course content, completion of weekly tasks allows access to course materials for that topic (e.g., lecture notes can be obtained prior to the lecture as an incentive for engaging with the LIP). The LIP is theoretically informed, and this paper presents data supporting its effectiveness. Designed to encourage regular interaction with course materials, the LIP encourages online student-driven engagement with the material, provides interactive feedback by explaining incorrect answers, and assists students to track their progress across the semester. Evidence and applications are discussed

Justice in Review: New Trends in State Sentencing and Corrections 2014-2015

In 2014 and 2015, 46 states enacted at least 201 bills, executive orders, and ballot initiatives to reform at least one aspect of their sentencing and corrections systems. In conducting this review of state criminal justice reforms, Vera found that most of the policy changes focused on three areas: creating or expanding opportunities to divert people away from the criminal justice system; reducing prison populations by enacting sentencing reform, expanding opportunities for early release from prison, and reducing the number of people admitted to prison for violating the terms of their community supervision; and supporting reentry into the community from prison. By providing concise summaries of representative reforms in each of these areas, this report serves as a practical guide for other state and federal policymakers looking to affect similar changes in criminal justice policy

Creating Structured Linked Data to Generate Scholarly Profiles: A Pilot Project using Wikidata and Scholia

INTRODUCTION Wikidata, a knowledge base for structured linked data, provides an open platform for curating scholarly communication data. Because all elements in a Wikidata entry are linked to defining elements and metadata, other web systems can harvest and display the data in meaningful ways. Thus, Wikidata has the capacity to serve as the data source for faculty profiles. Scholia is an example of how third-party tools can leverage the power of Wikidata to provide faculty profiles and bibliographic, data-driven visualizations. DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM In this article, we share our methods for contributing to Wikidata and displaying the data with Scholia. We deployed these methods as part of a pilot project in which we contributed data about a small but unique school on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus, the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. NEXT STEPS Following the completion of our pilot project, we aim to find additional methods for contributing large data collections to Wikidata. Specifically, we seek to contribute scholarly communication data that the library already maintains in other systems. We are also facilitating Wikidata edit-a-thons to increase the library’s familiarity with the knowledge base and our capacity to contribute to the site

An occam Style Communications System for UNIX Networks

This document describes the design of a communications system which provides occam style communications primitives under a Unix environment, using TCP/IP protocols, and any number of other protocols deemed suitable as underlying transport layers. The system will integrate with a low overhead scheduler/kernel without incurring significant costs to the execution of processes within the run time environment. A survey of relevant occam and occam3 features and related research is followed by a look at the Unix and TCP/IP facilities which determine our working constraints, and a description of the T9000 transputer's Virtual Channel Processor, which was instrumental in our formulation. Drawing from the information presented here, a design for the communications system is subsequently proposed. Finally, a preliminary investigation of methods for lightweight access control to shared resources in an environment which does not provide support for critical sections, semaphores, or busy waiting, is made. This is presented with relevance to mutual exclusion problems which arise within the proposed design. Future directions for the evolution of this project are discussed in conclusion