A staff study (SS) is an administrative tool used for decision-making, involving comprehensive data gathering and analysis to resolve issues. Particularly crucial in military settings where classified information limits resources, staff studies also demonstrate their value in interdisciplinary academic fields. This article emphasizes the…

Data analytics is an integral part of planning and decision making in business. Priorities have shifted to hiring skilled employees to support a company's analytics requirements. The authors discuss the background of big data and data analytics, demand for trained professionals, and information on the development of a data analytics curriculum.…

Intended outcomes such as expressing ideas in ways that can be understood, with the tools we know how to use, constrain the dynamics of the actions we use to ensure their success. The success of our actions can be measured by estimating the amount of information they transmit. This provides a window into the dynamics of cognition and how they are…

This article discusses critical methodological design decisions for collecting, interpreting, and synthesizing empirical evidence during the design, deployment, and operational quality-control phases for automated scoring systems. The discussion is inspired by work on operational large-scale systems for automated essay scoring but many of the…

Increasingly US jobs require data science and analytics skills. Can we meet the demand? The current shortage of skills in the national job pool demonstrates that business-as-usual strategies won't satisfy the growing need. If we are to unlock the promise and potential of data and all the technologies that depend on it, employers and educators will…

The rationale, principles, and methods of pre-design architectural programing are explained for those responsible for overall policy decision-making in the area of facility planning. This programing process provides an orderly framework that aids the architect in defining a client's total problem. A general background is given on data collection,…

This article describes an innovative curriculum module the first author created on the two-way exchange between statistics and applied ethics. The module, having no particular mathematical prerequisites beyond high school algebra, is part of an undergraduate interdisciplinary ethics course which begins with a 3-week introduction to basic applied…

This paper outlines a procedure for compiling a Natural Resources Inventory to be used in college-level environmental education classes. Topics for lectures, laboratory projects, materials and equipment lists, and alternative information sources are included. (AM)

Researchers at the Coast Guard Academy have designed and tested a series of exercises for assessing the development of intellectual skills in an interdisciplinary context and providing career-related motivation for continued learning. These exercises are based on realistic situations that cadets might encounter as commissioned officers in the…

Decision making in the public sector encompasses many topics of interest to the academic researcher--environmental issues, health and human services, budget planning, and so on. Expertise in data collection and analysis is critical to the policy-making process and can be provided by academic researchers. But the "real world" policymaker…

The public service role of universities and components of a knowledge transfer model are considered, and two case histories of university response to public client systems are presented. In addition, the community services office is described as one strategy for a university desiring to improve its public service role. It is suggested that the…

The IADIS CELDA 2012 Conference intention was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There had been advances in both cognitive psychology and computing that have affected the educational arena. The convergence of these two disciplines is increasing at a…