A Comparative Study of Educators\u27 Perceptions and Use of Mandated Reading Assessments

With the increasing emphasis on minimum competency testing has come a corresponding increase in mandated, district-wide testing programs. Results of such testing are oftn highly publicized, though perhaps not always completely understood. Yet, even though mandated tests have become an integral part of schooling in many areas of this country, we know little about specific testing practices

An Emergentist Account of Collective Cognition in Collaborative Problem Solving

As a first step toward an emergentist theory of collective cognition in collaborative problem solving, we present a proto-theoretical account of how one might conceive and model the intersubjective processes that organize collective cognition into one or another convergent, divergent, or tensive cognitive regime. To explore the sufficiency of our emergentist proposal we instantiate a minimalist model of intersubjective convergence and simulate the tuning of collective cognition using data from an empirical study of small-group, collaborative problem solving. Using the results of this empirical simulation, we test a number of preliminary hypotheses with regard to patterns of interaction, how those patterns affect a cognitive regime, and how that cognitive regime affects the efficacy of a problem-solving group

A Short-Cut to Testing Passage Comprehension

In this study the feasibility of administering the Woodcock Passage Comprehension Test in written rather than oral form was examined. ** In their short life the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests (Woodcock. 1973) have quickly found wide-spread usage. A critical review of the tests by Tuinman (1978) points out various limitations to the claims made by Woodcock for his tests. but nevertheless recognizes this battery as an important and useful contribution to the field

A status survey of reading programs in British Columbia secondary schools : 1976

This study is a descriptive survey of secondary reading programs in British Columbia. A review of the literature indicated that secondary reading programs were largely remedial or developmental in nature, with teachers of such programs having little training in reading education. All 331 secondary schools in the province of British Columbia were surveyed using a modified version of Hill's (1975) questionnaires, Responses were sought from the school administrators. A stamped, addressed return envelope was included with the questionnaire. An initial and follow-up mailing yielded a return of 88.8%. Results wers analysed through the University of British Columbia's computer facilities using the standard Laboratory Of Educational Research Test Analysis Package and the Multivariate Contingency Tabulations computer programs. The results for the population used in this study are in general agreement with the finding noted in the review of the literature. The majority of secondary reading programs in the province are remedial and/or developmental in nature. Many administrators- are dissatisfied with the existing reading programs in their schools. Most teachers of secondary reading were found to have little training in reading instruction. A comparison of available secondary reading programs, teacher training, administrators' attitudes toward reading programs, and availability of special, in-school reading facilities is made between junior and senior secondary schools.Education, Faculty ofLanguage and Literacy Education (LLED), Department ofGraduat

The relationship between avatar-based customization, player identification, and motivation

Player identification is an outcome of gameplay experiences in virtual worlds and has been shown to affectenjoyment and reduce self-discrepancy. Avatar customization has potential to impact player identificationby shaping the relationship between the player and the character. This mixed method study examines theeffects of avatar-based customization on players' identification with their characters, and the effects ofidentification dimensions (i.e., perceived similarity, wishful identification, embodied presence) on theirmotivation in a massively multiplayer online game, Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO). Participants (N= 66) played LotRO either in customization or in no-customization group for ten hours in four sessionsin a lab setting. Data were collected through interviews and surveys. Results showed both time andavatar customization positively impacted player identification with their characters. Player motivationwas predicted in different sessions by different identification dimensions, which shows the dynamic andsituational impact of identification on motivation