A Novel Study of the Relation Between Students Navigational Behavior on Blackboard and their Learning Performance in an Undergraduate Networking Course

This paper provides an overview of students behavior analysis on a learning management system (LMS), Blackboard (Bb) Learn for a core data communications course of the Undergraduate IT program in the Information Sciences and Technology (IST) Department at George Mason University (GMU). This study is an attempt to understand the navigational behavior of students on Blackboard Learn which can be further attributed to the overall performance of the students. In total, 160 undergraduate students participated in the study. Vast amount of students activities data across all four sections of the course were collected. All sections have similar content, assessment design and instruction methods. A correlation analysis between the different assessment methods and various key variables such as total student time, total number of logins and various other factors were performed, to evaluate students engagement on Blackboard Learn. Our findings can help instructors to efficiently identify students strengths or weaknesses and fine-tune their courses for better student engagement and performance

A Conversation with Dorothy Gilford

In 1946, Public Law 588 of the 79th Congress established the Office of Naval Research (ONR). Its mission was to plan, foster and encourage scientific research in support of Naval problems. The establishment of ONR predates the National Science Foundation and initiated the refocusing of scientific infrastructure in the United States following World War II. At the time, ONR was the only source for federal support of basic research in the United States. Dorothy Gilford was one of the first Heads of the Probability and Statistics program at the Office of Naval Research (1955 to 1962), and she went on to serve as Director of the Mathematical Sciences Division (1962 to 1968). During her time at ONR, Dorothy influenced many areas of statistics and mathematics and was ahead of her time in promoting interdisciplinary projects. Dorothy continued her career at the National Center for Education Statistics (1969 to 1974). She was active in starting international comparisons of education outcomes in different countries, which has influenced educational policy in the United States. Dorothy went on to serve in many capacities at the National Academy of Sciences, including Director of Human Resources Studies (1975 to 1978), Senior Statistician on the Committee on National Statistics (1978 to 1988) and Director of the Board on International Comparative Studies in Education (1988 to 1994). The following is a conversation we had with Dorothy Gilford in March of 2004. We found her to be an interesting person and a remarkable statistician. We hope you agree.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/088342307000000023 the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org