The National Institute of Mental Health created the National Database for Autism Research (NDAR) to accelerate autism knowledge through data sharing and collaboration. However, our experience using NDAR reveals systematic challenges across several aspects of data submission, selection, management, and analysis that limit utility of this resource.…

This article summarizes a conceptual framework and simple mathematical methods of estimating the probability that one event was a necessary cause of another, as interpreted by lawmakers. We show that the fusion of observational and experimental data can yield informative bounds that, under certain circumstances, meet legal criteria of causation.…

The continuous advancement of natural user interfaces (NUIs) allows for the development of novel and creative ways to support collocated collaborative work in a wide range of areas, including teaching and learning. The use of NUIs, such as those based on interactive multi-touch surfaces and tangible user interfaces (TUIs), can offer unique…

Engagement influences participation, progression and retention in game-based e-learning (GBeL). Therefore, GBeL systems should engage the players in order to support them to maximize their learning outcomes, and provide the players with adequate feedback to maintain their motivation. Innovative engagement monitoring solutions based on players'…

Teachers' observations of student performance in reading are abundant and insightful but often remain internal and unarticulated. As a result, such observations are an underutilized and undervalued source of data. Given the gaps in knowledge about students' reading comprehension that exist in formal assessments, the frequent calls for teachers'…

This newsletter is published four times a year. It offers articles on school improvement, organizational planning, training, and managing change. This issue contains: (1) Let Data Do the Talking: Clarify Goals and Roles by Examining Data (Valerie von Frank); (2) NSDC Tool: The Responsive School Scan Tool; and (3) NSDC Tool: Data Conversations Put…

The development of a contextual classroom observation system is described. The system consists of an instrument, trained observers, data handling, and analysis. Thus, instrument development was necessarily paralleled by the development of training procedures, data recording and processing systems, programming, and analytic techniques. The…

The Carroll County (Georgia) Competency-Based Teacher Certification Project developed a measure of teacher effectiveness, the 341-item Georgia Assessment of Teacher Effectiveness, based upon five previously published classroom observation systems. Three concerns were drawn from the development of this instrument: (1) the reduction of observational…

Ethnography may be used to inform the audience of a curriculum program with the activities of the educators and students involved. Thus the expository function of evaluation is best met by ethnography. A conceptual model developed at the Central Midwestern Regional Educational Laboratory incorporates ethnographic data and techniques into…

Conducted during 1968, this study was primarily concerned with whether Neighborhood Youth Corps (NYC) enrollees became any more employable as a result of their work experience. It was also concerned with factors that induce enrollees to remain in NYC or to leave it. The study pioneered in a method of quantitative observation of enrollees and work…

Designed to evaluate the use of microcomputer-based labware (MBL) in junior high school science, the Computer as Lab Partner Project examined classroom experience of using MBL; system features used and curriculum designed; classroom procedures, processes, and interactions; gains and benefits of MBL use; and potential difficulties in MBL…

This study was concerned with the present and future status of company training for clerical workers among firms in the Greater Boston area, descriptions of formal training programs that these companies provide for their clerical workers and ones conducted by out-of-company agencies. Questionnaires were used to secure information about present and…

Twenty students in an Experience-Based Career Education program were randomly selected for two periods of observation (Fall and Spring) at two kinds of sites (work-experience and school). Observations were coded, and then compiled and analyzed by computer. Results indicated a surprising similarity between activities of the resource…

Presented as a mini-course on the design of classroom observation systems, this report stresses the necessity of determining the goals of any study before designing the procedures. Only if the researcher has concretely formulated the questions to be answered, can an observation system be developed that will provide the appropriate data. The…