The Development and Validation of the Growing Disciples Inventory (GDI) as a Curriculum-aligned Self-assessment for Christian Education

Although numerous norm-referenced measures of religiosity and spirituality exist for adults, no assessment of the holistic goals for Christian spiritual development in the context of evangelical Protestant schools, geared to adolescents, and using emerging technologies, was found. Addressing this lacuna, the purpose of this curriculum study was to develop and validate the Growing Disciples Inventory (GDI) as a curriculum-aligned self-assessment for Christian education. Using a mixed methods approach, the GDI was constructed in the first phase of this educational design research. Experts in the fields of curriculum, assessment, Christian education and/or discipleship evaluated the extent to which proposed items were aligned to the Growing Disciples (GD) curriculum framework, and were appropriate to adolescent learners participating in Christian education. At least four items were included for each of 21 constructs within the four GD curriculum processes. The 100-item GDI was further refined through two development cycles of usability testing with adolescents. Using a think-aloud protocol, a proportional quota convenience sample of 16 learners completed the GDI online, reviewed their online reports, and took the exit survey. Minor refinements were made with the data from these individual interviews. During the second phase, evidence for the validity of the GDI was evaluated with data from a purposive sample of nine educators and 595 Grade 7 through 12 students in 8 American, South African, and Australian Seventh-day Adventist schools. High reliability was found in terms of internal consistency (Cronbach’s alphas of .855 to .943) and structural equation modelling (standardized correlation coefficients of .59 to .95) for the four cyclical and lifelong Christian spiritual development processes of Connecting,Understanding, Ministering, and Equipping. Confirmatory factor analysis through structural equation modelling provided evidence of construct validity with an adequate model fit. Moderate inter-factor correlations compared to higher correlations within factors indicated discriminant validity. Learner responses to 7 GDI exit survey items further supported the GDI’s design and ease-of-use online. Answers to 3 open-ended GDI exit survey questions supplied rich qualitative data that corroborated quantitative responses, and added perceptions of the utility and relevance of the GDI as a formative self-assessment tool to facilitate exploration of strengths and growth points through reflection and metacognition. The majority of educator interviews indicated favourable perceptions of the GDI’s utility and relevance within their sphere of the global Seventh-day Adventist education system. Structural equation model fit evaluation and correlations demonstrated that the GDI is a consistent self-assessment across gender and grade level. Although a weak correlation between country and learner scores was found, qualitative data supports the relevance of the GDI in each country. Further validation studies are recommended with larger samples international samples to adequately demonstrate generalizability within the context of evangelical Protestant education. Analysis of emerging themes in learner responses corroborated quantitative findings, triangulating evidence for learner engagement and the positive potential for the GDI’s use to facilitate Christian spiritual development. Each study of reliability and validity undertaken in this mixed methods curriculum research added moderate to strong evidence in support of the GDI as a curriculum-aligned self-assessment for adolescents participating in Christian education

2003 Scholar\u27s Day Abstracts

Scholars\u27 Day was established in 1997 and is a day-long conference devoted to showcasing the wide array of scholarship, research and creative activities occurring on campus. In 2012, a new emphasis on student research lead to a name change to Transformations: A Student Research and Creativity Conference. This event focuses on student research, which is defined as an original investigation or creative activity through the primary efforts of a student or group of students. The work should show problem-solving skills and demonstrate new conceptual outcomes.https://digitalcommons.cortland.edu/transformationsprograms/1013/thumbnail.jp

How does access to Assistive Technology mediate recourse to Disability Justice for urban poor people? A study centring the experiences of disabled slum dwellers in Freetown, Sierra Leone

This thesis addresses the central question of the role of Assistive Technology (AT) in mediating recourse to disability justice, centring the experiences of disabled slum dwellers in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Taking evidence from six datasets collected across four years, the study maps the local experience to the national and global picture offering a strategic reflection on the current state of work in the sector. The evidence from Sierra Leone (SL) reveals that quality AT is missing for almost all poor, disabled people. A novel finding from the research is that the lack of AT is most apparent for those who live in mainstream mixed urban settlements where disability identity is stigmatised and often hidden. Disabled people living together in an autonomously-organised settlement did – mostly - have AT, indicating further investigation into the role of collective action and autonomous organisation would be fruitful. Picking up themes emerging from the SL evidence globally, the study reveals that the AT interventions of core actors do not align with a single common operational framework. Borrowing from Amartya Sen’s seminal provocation Equality of What? (Sen, 1980), AT for what? becomes a pertinent question in the face of this dissensus. The study finds that the provision of AT within an operational framework of Disability Justice would better ensure the needs and aspirations of poor disabled people were prioritised in investment and priority setting. The thesis proposes, and tests, the potential configuration of a disability justice framework, as a basis future work can build from. Taken as a whole, the evidence presented in this study suggests that the claims for disability justice (including access to AT) of urban poor disabled people are often subjugated to background conditions, sitting behind the life-and-death claims for the basic need of life for the whole community (water, shelter, food). Therefore, any framework for disability justice must itself be linked to a broader push for justice for all poor people to be meaningful and impactful. Similarly, any broad social justice movement should place disability justice at its heart if it intends to drive for progressive change that benefits all. Finally, this study finds that AT is more than a commonplace element of the struggle for justice due to its fundamental necessity as an enabler of participation. The evidence suggests that AT can be viewed as a transitional demand of Disability Justice

Information Systems for Supporting Fire Emergency Response

Despite recent work on information systems, many first responders in emergency situations are unable to develop sufficient understanding of the situation to enable them to make good decisions. The record of the UK Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) has been particularly poor in terms of providing the information systems support to the fire fighters decision-making during their work. There is very little work on identifying the specific information needs of different types of fire fighters. Consequently, this study has two main aims. The first is to identify the information requirements of several specific members of the FRS hierarchy that lead to better Situation Awareness. The second is to identify how such information should be presented. This study was based on extensive data collected in the FRS brigades of three counties and focused on large buildings having a high-risk of fire and four key fire fighter job roles: Incident Commander, Sector Commander, Breathing Apparatus Entry Control Officer and Breathing Apparatus Wearers. The requirements elicitation process was guided by a Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) tool: Goal Directed Information Analysis (GDIA), which was developed specifically for this study. Initially appropriate scenarios were developed. Based on the scenarios, 44 semi-structured interviews were carried out in three different elicitation phases with both novice and experienced fire fighters. Together with field observations of fire simulation and training exercises, fire and rescue related documentation; a comprehensive set of information needs of fire fighters was identified. These were validated through two different stages via 34 brainstorming sessions with the participation of a number of subject-matter experts. To explore appropriate presentation methods of information, software mock-up was developed. This mock-up is made up of several human computer interfaces, which were evaluated via 19 walkthrough and workshop sessions, involving 22 potential end-users and 14 other related experts. As a result, many of the methods used in the mock-up were confirmed as useful and appropriate and several refinements proposed. The outcomes of this study include: 1) A set of GDI Diagrams showing goal related information needs for each of the job roles with the link to their decision-making needs, 2) A series of practical recommendations suitable for designing of human computer interfaces of fire emergency response information system, 3) Human computer interface mock-ups for an information system to enhance Situation Awareness of fire fighters and 4) A conceptual architecture for the underlying information system. In addition, this study also developed an enhanced cognitive task analysis tool capable of exploring the needs of emergency first responders. This thesis contributes to our understanding of how information systems could be designed to enhance the Situation Awareness of first responders in a fire emergency. These results will be of particular interest to practicing information systems designers and developers in the FRS in the UK and to the wider academic community

Beyond mystery babies : undiagnosis in a diagnostic age

This dissertation analyzes shifting understandings and lived experiences of undiagnosed disabilities, probing contemporary notions of bodily and intellectual difference. Thanks to new biomedical technologies and diagnostic frameworks, diagnoses are now possible for many people who would have received an ambiguous label of “multiple disabilities” in the past. This gives new forms of hope for diagnostic knowledge, while calling into question the social and practical significance of extremely rare diagnoses about which little is known. This study asks what it means to be – and often to remain – undiagnosed in the contemporary U.S., and how this shapes broader beliefs, meanings, and practices surrounding disability. In a time of rising disability prevalence, complete with increased public awareness, shifting modes of clinical versus genetic identification of differences, and new forms of representation, what does it mean to remain undiagnosed? What might reside in these shadows? This analysis pays particular attention to family experiences, belonging, and the affective dimensions of disability in the everyday, and draws on anthropology, disability studies, and science and technology studies. Ultimately, this dissertation argues for a conceptual shift in approaching undiagnosis, calling for renewed attention to the complex social worlds of these individuals and their families as an emergent disability community.Anthropolog

Stretchable music : a graphically rich, interactive composition system

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-122).by Peter W. Rice, Jr.S.M

Theorising the design-reality gap in ICTD: matters of care in mobile learning for Kenyan community health workers

This thesis examines the sociomaterial relations of “design practice” in order to advance new perspectives on success and failure in Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD). I conduct an ethnographic case study of an academic research intervention and update the widely-cited theory of design-reality gaps (Heeks, 2002). Using methods from classic actor-network theory and post-structural material-semiotic tools, the analysis: 1) disentangles the entwined sociomaterial practices around design, production, and use of technology; and 2) integrates these insights into more elaborate conceptualisations of gaps, sustainability, scalability, and project failure. In doing so, my study answers the research question: What are the sociomaterial relations of “design practice” in a globally-distributed, multi-stakeholder, and technologicallymediated ICTD project for poverty alleviation? My research narrative describes how an array of humans and non-humans participated as designers in a transnational, interdisciplinary Participatory Action Research project to train Kenyan health workers using mobile phones. At least six different patterns of sociomaterial relations operated through a given set of people and things, enacting the material-discursive apparatuses (Barad, 1998) of educational research, healthcare, the market, the state, and the local community. I assert that in this Participatory Action Research project for mobile learning, the design-reality gap was not so much a matter of geographic or socio-cultural divides, but was instead constituted as fluid space (Mol, 2002) separating the educational researchers’ designerly practices from the multiplicity of ways in which health workers, mobile phones, and other actors lived in relation to one another. I conclude that these ontological politics enacted design as an empirical matter of care – an affective and morally-charged sociomaterial practice with an ethico-political commitment to the marginalised (Puig de la Bellacasa, 2011). I therefore present a conceptual model of success and failure in participatory ICTD projects that explicitly incorporates the affective and material dimensions of care, and conceptualises social justice – not solely in terms of universal claims or global standards – but as embodied, sociomaterial enactments

Sustainability in design: now! Challenges and opportunities for design research, education and practice in the XXI century

Copyright @ 2010 Greenleaf PublicationsLeNS project funded by the Asia Link Programme, EuropeAid, European Commission