Practitioner research should be sufficiently trustworthy "and" useful. We argue, however, that although criteria of trustworthiness are rather well developed, criteria of usefulness are not. As a result, the long-term impact of practitioner research is rather disappointing because, we contend, it tends to lack practicality. We used…

This article examines current technology-aided instruction and intervention (TAII) available for autistic transition-age youth (TAY) in the United States and existing policies that may support or hinder the delivery of these interventions. Specifically, we focus on policies that might influence the delivery of TAII to autistic TAY. After a careful…

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based approach to addressing behavior issues in schools. The Minnesota Department of Education and the Regional Training Projects sponsor three training sessions per year for schools that are participating in Minnesota's two-year training sequence for PBIS. This report is…

"Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge-Direct Training Module" (PEAK-DTM) is a commercially available assessment and curriculum for individuals whose language skills are not developmentally adequate. In their review of PEAK-DTM, Reed and Luiselli (2016) analyzed the extant literature on PEAK-DTM and concluded that it has a sound…

We use a field experiment in Tanzania to compare the effectiveness on learning of two teacher performance pay systems. The first is a Pay for Percentile system (a rank-order tournament). The second rewards teachers based on multiple proficiency thresholds. Pay for Percentile can (under certain conditions) induce optimal effort among teachers, but…

Lesson planning is both an important and demanding task--especially as part of teacher training. This paper presents the requirements for a lesson planning system and evaluates existing systems regarding these requirements. One major drawback of existing software tools is that most are limited to a text- or form-based representation of the lesson…

At 21st century Computational Thinking (CT) is considered a fundamental skill that anyone should possess and develop from a young age. Serious games and more specifically educational games (EGs) are a promising means of introducing algorithmic thinking and programming concepts and engaging students through the process of learning. In this article,…

In January 2018, Nova Southeastern University opened the NSU Writing and Communication Center (WCC), an innovative academic work environment that offers writing and communication assistance to all 20,000-plus NSU students. A key component of the WCC is its online writing and communication resources. These resources are made available to all NSU…

Requiring savvy, online courses can present a perceived barrier to adult learners for a variety of reasons, but ease of access due to inadequate navigability should not be one of those barriers. Re-tooling online courses to standards of Quality Matters (QM) can lessen that barrier to access, making adult learners more participatory. Internal…

Virtual Reference Services (VRS) have high user satisfaction. The main problem is its low usage. We surveyed 100 academic library web sites to understand how VRS are presented. We then conducted a usability study to further test an active VRS model regarding its effectiveness.

Integrated curricula and experiential learning are the main ingredients to the recipe to improve student learning in higher education. In the academic computer science world it is mostly assumed that this experiential learning takes place at a business as an internship experience. The intent of this paper is to schism the traditional understanding…

The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has funded a five years program to encourage the use, creation and sharing of Open Educational Resources (OER) by teachers from various types of education. This program is known as Wikiwijs. Ultimo 2013, the program has come to an end. As some of the assumptions at the start of Wikiwijs proved…

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Science Digital Library/Distributed Learning (NSDL) program turned 10 years old in 2010. This report presents results of a preliminary program evaluation carried out by RAND and is organized around three principal goals: (1) Provide an initial evaluation of NSDL based on existing information…

A qualitative research project was conducted to test the viability of augmenting an e-learning program for workplace learners using mobile content delivered through smart phones. Ten learners taking a six week web-based e-learning course were given smart phones which enabled them to access approximately 70% of the course content, in addition to…

Many organizations have evolved since their early attempts to mount digital exhibits on the Web and are experimenting with ways to increase the scale of their digitized collections by utilizing archival finding aid description rather than resource-intensive collections and exhibits. This article examines usability research to predict how such…