Teacher concerns about service-learning

Service-learning is a rapidly growing teaching innovation. Despite the proliferation of service-learning research, little has focused on the teacher, particularly the personal dimension involved in implementing such an innovation. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers\u27 concerns regarding service-learning using the seven developmental Stages of Concern proposed by Hall, George, and Rutherford (1977) as a framework. Eleven teachers who were engaged in service-learning were interviewed and completed the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ). Together, the profiles generated by the SoCQ and the interview analyses, provide a rich description of teachers\u27 concerns. Since at the outset of this study, the SoCQ had never been applied to the specific innovation of service-learning, the profiles were compared with interview data. They tracked closely with one another lending confidence in the applicability of the SoCQ with service-learning

Inventory and prediction of heavy-duty diesel vehicle emissions

A vehicle emissions inventory is an account of emissions produced by all vehicles in an area. Many different factors can affect the emissions and the measurement of the emissions that are used to create an emissions inventory. These factors for heavy-duty diesel vehicles have been addressed and their relative affect on emissions was evaluated from test data and analytical analyses. These elements can affect the emissions by a factor of 15 depending on testing conditions.;One purpose that an emissions database serves is to provide a source for predicting future emissions for a specific vehicle or many vehicles in a general area. Using a database directly for prediction is ideal, but no comprehensive data set currently exists that covers all of the different vehicle and component combinations that exist in current use. Numerical models can be used to take the existing information about vehicle emissions and calculate the emissions that would be produced by all the vehicles in an inventory. The Transportable Heavy-Duty Vehicle Emissions Testing Laboratories at WU have collected emissions data from heavy-duty vehicles for approximately 8 years. This existing data were used in an analysis to develop a method that can produce emissions factors in grams per mile for all heavy-duty vehicles from a small database of measured emissions. The method developed categorizes the emissions according to the vehicle speed and acceleration. The WVU emissions data were combined with truck activity data derived by Battelle Memorial Institute to create emissions factors in grains per mile that reflects actual driving patterns. These factors were then compared to measured emissions from the THDVETL and errors were found to be as low as 5%

Developing and Managing an Advisory Board to Support Extension-Based Centers and Other Programs

Subject matter centers—which emphasize time-bound, externally funded, deliverable-driven projects and teams that engage new stakeholders—are becoming more common in Extension. An important element of such a center is an effective advisory board. This article presents a multifaceted process undertaken by the William D. Ruckelshaus Center as an example of the successful development and use of an Extension-based subject matter center advisory board. Extension-based centers, and other Extension offices and programs, can adapt the practices described to their own situations and tap the expertise and influence of leaders in their areas to address challenges and expand their capabilities, insight, and reach

Are auditory cues special? Evidence from cross-modal distractor-induced blindness

A target that shares features with preceding distractor stimuli is less likely to be detected due to a distractor-driven activation of a negative attentional set. This transient impairment in perceiving the target (distractor-induced blindness/deafness) can be found within vision and audition. Recently, the phenomenon was observed in a cross-modal setting involving an auditory target and additional task-relevant visual information (cross-modal distractor-induced deafness). In the current study, consisting of three behavioral experiments, a visual target, indicated by an auditory cue, had to be detected despite the presence of visual distractors. Multiple distractors consistently led to reduced target detection if cue and target appeared in close temporal proximity, confirming cross-modal distractor-induced blindness. However, the effect on target detection was reduced compared to the effect of cross-modal distractor-induced deafness previously observed for reversed modalities. The physical features defining cue and target could not account for the diminished distractor effect in the current cross-modal task. Instead, this finding may be attributed to the auditory cue acting as an especially efficient release signal of the distractor-induced inhibition. Additionally, a multisensory enhancement of visual target detection by the concurrent auditory signal might have contributed to the reduced distractor effect

Big data for monitoring educational systems

This report considers “how advances in big data are likely to transform the context and methodology of monitoring educational systems within a long-term perspective (10-30 years) and impact the evidence based policy development in the sector”, big data are “large amounts of different types of data produced with high velocity from a high number of various types of sources.” Five independent experts were commissioned by Ecorys, responding to themes of: students' privacy, educational equity and efficiency, student tracking, assessment and skills. The experts were asked to consider the “macro perspective on governance on educational systems at all levels from primary, secondary education and tertiary – the latter covering all aspects of tertiary from further, to higher, and to VET”, prioritising primary and secondary levels of education