Reflecting on Evidence-Based Timelines

Project retrospectives can be powerful tools for project teams to collectively identify communication gaps and practices to improve for future projects. However, even if project members take the time for a retrospective, it can be hard to correctly remember and jointly discuss past events in a constructive way. Fact-based timelines that visualize a project's events offer a possible solution

Artificial Intelligence And Big Data Technologies To Close The Achievement Gap.

We observe achievement gaps even in rich western countries, such as the UK, which in principle have the resources as well as the social and technical infrastructure to provide a better deal for all learners. The reasons for such gaps are complex and include the social and material poverty of some learners with their resulting other deficits, as well as failure by government to allocate sufficient resources to remedy the situation. On the supply side of the equation, a single teacher or university lecturer, even helped by a classroom assistant or tutorial assistant, cannot give each learner the kind of one-to-one attention that would really help to boost both their motivation and their attainment in ways that might mitigate the achievement gap. In this chapter Benedict du Boulay, Alexandra Poulovassilis, Wayne Holmes, and Manolis Mavrikis argue that we now have the technologies to assist both educators and learners, most commonly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects (STEM), at least some of the time. We present case studies from the fields of Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) and Big Data. We look at how they can be used to provide personalised support for students and demonstrate that they are not designed to replace the teacher. In addition, we also describe tools for teachers to increase their awareness and, ultimately, free up time for them to provide nuanced, individualised support even in large cohorts

PACS Evolutionary Probe (PEP) - A Herschel Key Program

Deep far-infrared photometric surveys studying galaxy evolution and the nature of the cosmic infrared background are a key strength of the Herschel mission. We describe the scientific motivation for the PACS Evolutionary Probe (PEP) guaranteed time key program and its role in the complement of Herschel surveys, and the field selection which includes popular multiwavelength fields such as GOODS, COSMOS, Lockman Hole, ECDFS, EGS. We provide an account of the observing strategies and data reduction methods used. An overview of first science results illustrates the potential of PEP in providing calorimetric star formation rates for high redshift galaxy populations, thus testing and superseeding previous extrapolations from other wavelengths, and enabling a wide range of galaxy evolution studies.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Common Core State Standards: A Funder's Guide to Understanding Their Development and Impact in K-12 Schools

Announced in 2009 and subsequently adopted by 46 states and the District of Columbia, the Common Core State Standards represent a new blueprint for what students in virtually every corner of the country will learn in English language arts (ELA) and literacy as well as mathematics.This guide--the first in a series by Grantmakers for Education--lays out the history of the Common Core, describes what changes it is bringing to public schools, and outlines challenges and opportunities funders should watch for in the work ahead

Enhancing Transition for Students with Disabilities Across New York State: State Performance Plan #13 and the New York State Transition Quality Indicators

This policy brief describes the relationship between state reporting requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 and New York State\u27s process for continuous quality improvement, utilizing TransQUAL Online. The federal government established State Performance Plan Indicator #13 (SPP 13) so that states would report the percentage of students with Individualized Education Programs whose goals and transition services reasonably enable the student to meet measurable post-secondary goals. In New York State, Transition Quality Indicators (TQI) were established to help school districts collaboratively assess their current transition-related practices. TransQUAL Online is a password-protected organizational assessment tool that integrates the TQI with planning and reflection tools and resources, supporting a continuous improvement approach. The author identifies a process by which a school district planning team can infuse SPP 13 data into the TransQUAL collaborative process, bringing this mandated review into a broader context. Tables are included that directly link Transition Quality Indicators to elements of the SPP 13 measurement tool

‘Useful, usable and used’: Sustaining an Australian model of cross-faculty service learning by concentrating on shared value creation

In recent decades, partnerships between community-based organisations and universities through service-learning programs have proliferated, reflected in an equally energetic growth in the research literature on process, evaluation, benefits and lessons learned. As an example of student experiential education through community engagement, service learning’s potential to contribute to students, community partners and the university is well recognised, although the research has tended to focus on benefits to students rather than the value in engagement for the community sector. UTS Shopfront Community Program is a cross-university initiative that has successfully facilitated curricular service learning in multiple disciplines for 20 years at an Australian university, leading to the completion of more than 1000 community projects. In examining this program, this article aims to describe both a sustainable, generative partnership model for creating shared value and, through analysis of 10 years of evaluation data, define what value is created for community partners and students through this project work. Key components in enabling a shared-value approach include: community-initiated projects based on need; a dedicated cross-university program and an assigned project coordinator; the engagement of faculty expertise through students with developed skills in appropriately structured courses; and community ownership of outcomes. Ongoing challenges include: scoping ‘student-ready’ briefs; managing risk, commitment and workload; designing coursework structures to deliver shared value; and achieving the ‘Holy Grail’ of transdisciplinarity