Virtual worlds provide unique opportunities for instructors to promote, study, and evaluate student learning and comprehension. In this article, Victor Vergara, Thomas Caudell, Timothy Goldsmith, Panaiotis, and Dale Alverson explore the advantages of using virtual reality environments to create simulations for medical students. Virtual simulations…

Online virtual worlds are becoming important tools in foreign/second language instruction in view of the fact that they enhance learner motivation, promote autonomy and social presence in a 3D environment. Virtual worlds are a type of reality in which students can meet and communicate with other learners in the target language using text, voice or…

The "TOEFL iBT"® test presents test takers with tasks meant to simulate the tasks required of students in English-medium universities. Research establishing the validity argument for the test provides evidence for score interpretation and the use of the test for university admissions and placement. Now that the test has been operational…

The introduction of new technologies in society has created a need for interactive contents that can make the most of the potential that technological advances offer. Serious games as educational games are such content: they can be defined as video games or interactive applications whose main purpose is to provide not only entertainment but also…

Optimizing the usability of e-learning materials is necessary to reduce extraneous cognitive load and maximize their potential educational impact. However, this is often neglected, especially when time and other resources are limited. We conducted a randomized trial to investigate whether a usability evaluation of our multimedia e-learning…

The Association Supporting Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) initiated a refereed track for paper submissions to the conference in 2008. In fact, at the 2008 business meeting, the membership approved three different presentation tracks: refereed with 3 blind reviews for each paper, session with paper where the author submits a paper but it is…

This paper presents an e-collaboration project involving real-time videoconferencing exchanges between students from the University of Westminster and the Université Catholique de Lille. Students drew on diverse resources, including written quantitative data and first-hand qualitative data in French/English to complete weekly tasks. Follow-up work…

The increase of technological capabilities has opened the door to innovations that help people learn. One popular form of training over the past 10 years has been in Serious Game--simulations used for training rather than entertainment. The purpose of the study was to determine whether participants who played a massively multiplayer online role…

The statistical assessment of dimensionality provides evidence of the underlying constructs measured by a survey or test instrument. This study focuses on educational measurement, specifically tests comprised of items described as multidimensional. That is, items that require examinee proficiency in multiple content areas and/or multiple cognitive…

The fiscal crisis in the states and localities that occurred during the Great Recession and continues in many parts of the country because of the persistent housing crisis put substantial pressure on governments to consider the efficiency of their spending. Public pensions gained substantial attention due to the need for governments to contribute…

In multilevel modeling, group-level variables (L2) for assessing contextual effects are frequently generated by aggregating variables from a lower level (L1). A major problem of contextual analyses in the social sciences is that there is no error-free measurement of constructs. In the present article, 2 types of error occurring in multilevel data…

Interaction and quadratic effects in latent variable models have to date only rarely been tested in practice. Traditional product indicator approaches need to create product indicators (e.g., x[superscript 2] [subscript 1], x[subscript 1]x[subscript 4]) to serve as indicators of each nonlinear latent construct. These approaches require the use of…

This study used a multiple probe design across participants to examine the effects of classroom simulation using static picture prompts on students' ability to acquire, maintain, and generalize skills necessary to use a debit card to make a purchase and track their expenses. Results demonstrated a functional relationship between simulated…

This article describes the important ways in which Harold Guetzkow mentored his student, helping him to develop conceptual and methodological skills and to become a rigorous thinker. While the path was sometimes difficult and stressful, the intellectual skills transmitted from Harold Guetzkow were vital to the teaching and research skills of his…

It is a widespread misunderstanding in introductory physics courses that the motion of rolling bodies in general can be calculated using the point of contact as a reference point when equating the rate of change of angular momentum to the torque. In this paper I discuss in general two correct rules to be used instead, in order to derive the…