Universal design thinkers are needed now more than ever. The world is facing one humanitarian crisis after the other, forcing people to flee their homes and resettle elsewhere without knowing anything about the local language, traditions, and way of life. Moreover, an ageing population is in need of (housing) design that facilitates long-term…

This article offers a systematic review of the evolution of research impact assessment in Australia and the UK. We consider its inception and detail the development of relevant policy and procedures in each country. The article sets out the results of a comparative analysis of public policy documents, newspaper commentary, and academic literature…

This chapter presents a heuristic of four principles for researchers, designers or school communities to use to facilitate collaborative engagement about school space. It first explains how each idea is derived from the literature and previous research. Then a practical example of the process in an English primary school is reported. Finally, a…

This article provides a detailed description of three factors (specification of the ability distribution, numerical integration, and frame of reference for the item parameter estimates) that might affect the item parameter estimation of the three-parameter logistic model, and compares five item calibration methods, which are combinations of the…

Internationally, an interest is emerging in a growing body of work on what has become known as "diffractive methodologies" drawing attention to ontological aspects of research. Diffractive methodologies have largely been developed in response to a dissatisfaction with practices of "reflexivity", which are seen to be grounded in…

The regular pentagon had a symbolic meaning in the Pythagorean and Platonic philosophies and a subsequent important role in Western thought, appearing also in arts and architecture. A property of regular pentagons, which was probably discovered by the Pythagoreans, is that the ratio between the diagonal and the side of these pentagons is equal to…

In Andrew Maul's focus paper "Rethinking Traditional Methods of Survey Validation'" published in this issue of "Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives," Maul contends that self-report measures may be particularly difficult to validate. He cautions that such techniques may fall short of providing the kinds of…

In recent years, cultural anthropologists conducting educational ethnographies in the US have pursued some new methodological approaches. These new approaches can be attributed to advances in cultural theory, evolving norms of research practice, and the affordances of new technologies. In this article, I review three such approaches under the…

This Monte Carlo simulation study aimed to investigate confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) estimation methods under different conditions, such as sample size, distribution of indicators, test length, average factor loading, and factor structure. Binary data were generated to compare the performance of maximum likelihood (ML), mean and variance…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has become an international priority. STEM education provides students with interdisciplinary knowledge and promotes the cultivation of high-level skills. However, STEM training opportunities for teachers are rare, which results in fewer opportunities for primary and secondary…

Accreditation status is very important to colleges and universities as it is tied to federal funding, reputation, admissions, and faculty hiring and retention. Changed accreditation standards can be difficult to achieve and have a significant impact on faculty. Because of this, institutions are usually given two to three years to achieve…

This study contributes to the current research in career and professional identity development in that it developed a validated competency-based framework to enhance professional and self-awareness of future engineers. Through a mixed-method design, key competencies were identified for three professional roles for early career engineers.…

This article grew out of several conversations with colleagues in the field of academic advising, most notably Brent Lamons, Ruth Darling and Marsha Miller, as an essay on the relationship between theory and practice, also know as 'praxis'. Why do advisors do what they do in their advising practice? What challenges do they face in getting from…

Diagnostic classification models (DCMs) can provide multidimensional diagnostic feedback about students' mastery levels of knowledge components or attributes. One advantage of using DCMs is the ability to accurately and reliably classify students into mastery levels with a relatively small number of items per attribute. Combining DCMs with…

While the basic foundations of organizational and coaching strategies are very important to the development of a youth sports team, it is imperative to expand further on what makes a true team. A great team is not created overnight, it usually takes several years. Yet, with the proper mindset, the right coach can quickly turn a youth program into…