A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it as they interact regularly. Higher education leaders are attracted to CoPs because they are a peer-based model of learning with colleagues, which works well for professionals such as faculty. These authors identified…

Business schools are globally often seen as structured, purpose-driven, multi-sector and multi-perspective organisations. This article is based on the response of a graduate school to an innovative industrial Quality Function Deployment-based model (QFD), which was to be adopted initially in a Master's degree programme for quality assurance…

Ramsay-curve item response theory (RC-IRT) is a nonparametric procedure that estimates the latent trait using splines, and no distributional assumption about the latent trait is required. For item parameters of the two-parameter logistic (2-PL), three-parameter logistic (3-PL), and polytomous IRT models, RC-IRT can provide more accurate estimates…

The Personalized Integrated Educational System (PIES) design theory is a design recommendation regarding the function and features of Learning Managements Systems (LMS) that can support the information-age learner-centered paradigm of education. The purpose of this study was to improve the proposed functions and features of the PIES design theory…

Although implemented in 1975, the inclusion of students with special needs into the mainstream general education environment has taken a slow path. Now in an age where federal and state mandates affect the ways in which schools are run, the least restrictive environment mandate has been met with increasingly wide acceptance. In order for all…

The study was undertaken with the objective of assessing groups influence on management style as related to University governance with University of Agriculture, Makurdi as a case study from academic staff perspective. The management style of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi between the period September 3, 1996 to…

This article demonstrates the use of mixed-effects logistic regression (MLR) for conducting sequential analyses of binary observational data. MLR is a special case of the mixed-effects logit modeling framework, which may be applied to multicategorical observational data. The MLR approach is motivated in part by G. A. Dagne, G. W. Howe, C. H.…

Adaptive decision making requires that contingencies between decision options and their relative assets be assessed accurately and quickly. The present research addresses the challenging notion that contingencies may be more visible from small than from large samples of observations. An algorithmic account for such a seemingly paradoxical effect…

The state of the art in observational studies is discussed, with emphasis on explanatory research--studies of program effectiveness in which an attempt is made to explain the reasons for the results as well as describing the results. In addition to the collection of data and presentation of statistical facts, the explanatory study involves the…

A phenomenological approach to library research utilizing qualitative research methods is contrasted to a positivist-behaviorist approach utilizing quantitative methods. Psychological understanding of a situation attained by means of accurate description, and subjectivity and associated intentionality are presented as part of the phenomenological…