School dropout is a significant issue in distance learning, and early detection is crucial for addressing the problem. Our study aims to create a binary classification model that anticipates students' activity levels based on their current achievements and engagement on a Canadian Distance learning Platform. Predicting student dropout, a common…

The need to identify student cognitive engagement in online-learning settings has increased with our use of online learning approaches because engagement plays an important role in ensuring student success in these environments. Engaged students are more likely to complete online courses successfully, but this setting makes it more difficult for…

Human Rights Education exists as an implementing entity of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Scholars such as Andre Keet and others have criticized the dissemination of universal rights through education because it covets Western ideology over local ethical and epistemological constructs. Using Tibbitts' revised typologies of Human Rights…

This paper provides a curricular critique of an environmental education policy framework called "Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow" (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2009). Answers to the following two curricular questions: "What should be taught?" and "How it should be taught?" frame the critique. Scrutiny of the latter…

A response model that is able to detect guessing behaviors and produce unbiased estimates in low-stake conditions using timing information is proposed. The model is a special case of the grade of membership model in which responses are modeled as partial members of a class that is affected by motivation and a class that responds only according to…

Introduction: The article contributes to the conceptual studies of affective factors in information seeking by examining Kuhlthau's information search process model. Method: This random-digit dial telephone survey of 253 people (75% female) living in a rural, medically under-serviced area of Ontario, Canada, follows-up a previous interview study…

This longitudinal study of 78 Canadian English-speaking students examined the applicability of the stability, cumulative, and compensatory models in reading comprehension development. Archival government-mandated assessments of reading comprehension at Grades 3, 6, and 10, and the Canadian Test of Basic Skills measure of reading comprehension…

This article focuses on analysing the effect of educational differentiation policies of OECD educational systems on socioeconomically disadvantaged students, based on data from PISA 2009. The analysis is conducted on the basis of a definition of two subgroups of disadvantaged students: those that achieve high scores, and those obtaining scores…

This article describes an exploration of the distinction between typological and factorial latent variables in the domain of personality theory. Traditionally, many personality variables have been considered to be factorial in nature, even though there are examples of typological constructs dating back to Hippocrates. Recently, some…

Automatic item generation represents a relatively new but rapidly evolving research area where cognitive and psychometric theories are used to produce tests that include items generated using computer technology. Automatic item generation requires two steps. First, test development specialists create item models, which are comparable to templates…

This article has its origins in exit surveys of 1335 graduate students (283 PhD and 1052 Master's) conducted at a mid-sized Canadian university from 1996 to 2005. The article explores the relationship between the perceived effectiveness of graduate supervision and the disciplinary background of graduate students. Students are categorized into four…

In this commentary, the author asks the analogous question, "where's the psychology?" Not because the authors of the focus article "Unique Characteristics of Diagnostic Classification Models: A Comprehensive Review of the Current State-of-the-Art" have not provided a solid review of the technical aspects of Diagnostic…

In this study two complementary models, which were based on the strengths of existing models, were developed to analyze students' critical thinking skills. One model was used to categorize the types of critical thinking displayed by students; the other was used to evaluate the quality of the critical thinking. The models were refined and tested…

To study the differences in teachers' time allocations to various functions when volunteers were and were not present, as well as the differences in the amount of adult time spent with individual pupils in these sessions, an experimental design was employed that included a taxonomy of classroom functions based both on a theoretical framework and…

The Canadian article explores some of the implications of assigning handicapped children to two commonly used categories: learning disabilities and hearing impairments. (Author/DLS)