In this paper, I describe the design and evaluation of automated essay scoring (AES) models for an institution's writing placement program. Information was gathered on admitted student writing performance at a science and technology research university in the northeastern United States. Under timed conditions, first-year students (N = 879) were…

Cognitive scientists investigate mental models (how humans organize and structure knowledge in their minds) so as to understand human understanding of and interactions with the world. Cognitive and mental model research is concerned with internal conceptual systems that are not easily or directly observable. The goal of this research was to…

Various writing assistance tools have been developed through efforts in the areas of natural language processing with different degrees of success of curriculum integration depending on their functional rigor and pedagogical designs. In this paper, we developed a system, WriteAhead, that provides six types of suggestions when non-native graduate…

LOCO-Analyst is a learning analytics tool we developed to provide educators with feedback on students learning activities and performance. Evaluation of the first version of the tool led to the enhancement of the tool's data visualization, user interface, and supported feedback types. The second evaluation of the improved tool allowed us to see…

In this study, the electronic revision and recapitulation tools 2.0 (EREP 2.0) were used to foster creative moments while creating aided recalls (ARs) (pictures electronic notes etc.). Creative and critical thinking is associated with vital skills which enable students to deal with often complex knowledge domains through an informal way of…

Online marking and feedback systems are critical for providing timely and accurate feedback to students and maintaining the integrity of results in large class teaching. Previous investigations have involved much in-house development and more consideration is needed for deploying or customising off the shelf solutions. Furthermore, keeping up to…

Background: e-status is a web-based tool able to generate different statistical exercises and to provide immediate feedback to students' answers. Although the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is becoming widespread in undergraduate education, there are few experimental studies evaluating its effects on learning. Method: All…

Christine Greenhow, J. D. Walker, Dan Donnelly, and Brad Cohen describe the implementation and evaluation of the University of Minnesota's Fair Use Analysis (FUA) tool, an interactive online application intended to educate users and foster defensible fair use practice in accordance with copyright law by guiding users through a robust,…

In teacher education, electronic portfolios provide an authentic form of assessment documenting students' personal and professional growth. Using the engineered-based system, College LiveText, and an off-the-shelf general tool, HyperStudio, pre-service teachers constructed e-portfolios as part of their teacher preparation requirements. This case…

There are more similarities than differences among learning management system (LMS) software products. In a recent study, Carriere, Challborn, and Moore compared a variety of LMSs and went as far as to suggest that the only real differences between systems lie in marketing approaches. In addition, because LMSs have interchangeable parts, those…

Reviews commonly used search engines (AltaVista, Excite, infoseek, Lycos, HotBot, WebCrawler), focusing on existing comparative studies; considers quality dimensions from the customer's point of view based on a SERVQUAL framework; and groups these quality expectations in five dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and…

Examines The Internet Adapter (TIA), an Internet protocol that allows computers to be directly on the Internet and access graphics over standard telephone lines using high-speed modems. Compares TIA's system requirements, performance, and costs to other Internet connections. Sidebars describe connections other than TIA and how to find information…

This report compares two integrated course delivery packages: "Centra 6" and "WebEx". Both applications feature asynchronous and synchronous audio communications for online education and training. They are relatively costly products, and provide useful comparisons with the two less expensive products to be evaluated in the following report #53.…

The WWW is now in widespread use for delivering on-line learning content in many large-scale education settings. Given such widespread usage, it is feasible to accumulate data concerning the most useful learning experiences of past students and share them with future students. Browsing events that depict how past students utilized the learning…

A comparison was conducted of "Voxwire MeetingRoom" and "iVocalize" v4.1.0.3, both Web-conferencing products using voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) to provide unlimited, inexpensive, international audio communication, and high-quality Web-conferencing fostering collaborative learning. The study used the evaluation criteria used in earlier…