This case study explains how to gather web metrics to measure the size, investment, and popularity of K-12 school system and higher education websites. This case study will first explain and define web metrics in detail, such as keywords, traffic, search engine optimization, and other terminology crucial for educational researchers to understand…

For American teenagers, social media participation has become a routine feature of everyday life, with ready access to their online networks via smartphones, tablets, and computers. Despite questions and concerns about its effects, relatively few educational researchers have qualitatively explored how students use social media. Complexities such…

Web 3.0 technologies have inevitably affected educational research. Many studies have been conducted on the use of Web 3.0 tools in learning environments. The synthesis and summarization of the results of these studies with a systematic review is considered important in terms of being the source of future research and helping to spread the use of…

This article discusses the nonuse, misuse, and proper use of pilot studies in experimental evaluation research. The authors first show that there is little theoretical, practical, or empirical guidance available to researchers who seek to incorporate pilot studies into experimental evaluation research designs. The authors then discuss how pilot…

This review contributes to the growing body of global autism spectrum disorder literature by examining the use of screening instruments in low- and middle-income countries with respect to study design and methodology, instrument adaptation and performance, and collaboration with community stakeholders in research. A systematic review was conducted…

What began with a few libraries' early application of ethnographic methods to learn more about user behaviors and needs has grown to become a significant body of work done across many institutions using a broad range of methods. User-centered investigations are increasingly influential in discussions about the shape and future of the research…

Fostering the listening comprehension of English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners has been recognized as an important and challenging issue. Videos have been used as one of the English listening learning resources; however, without effective learning supports, EFL students are likely to encounter difficulties in comprehending the video content,…

Tag clouds generated in social tagging systems can capture the collective knowledge of communities. Using as a basis spreading activation theories, information foraging theory, and the co-evolution model of cognitive and social systems, we present here a model for an "extended information scent," which proposes that both collective and individual…

The article proposes a self-study system which suggests web links to learners. The suggestions depend upon the learner's chosen competences selected from a competence structure for a particular knowledge domain. Three experiments were conducted, where the first compared the perceived usefulness and value of the links generated by different…

Coburn and Turner (this issue) present an intriguing framework for understanding how data has come to be used in the current high accountability environments in education. In this framework, they connect various processes of data use within organizational and political contexts. Data use is presented using an ecological perspective that deepens…

This article describes the research design of, and reports selected findings from, a scoping study aimed at examining current and planned applications of 3D immersive virtual worlds at higher education institutions across Australia and New Zealand. The scoping study is the first of its kind in the region, intended to parallel and complement a…

A social navigation system collects data from its users--its community--about what they are doing, their opinions, and their decisions, aggregates this data, and provides the aggregated data--community data--back to individuals so that they can use it to guide behavior and decisions. Social navigation systems empower users with the ability to…

Starting from Perkins' (1985) framework, this study addresses tool use in a computer-based learning environment. In line with Perkins, first the effects of tool use on performance were investigated to gain insight into the functionality of the tools. Next, the influence of advice was studied to identify whether this advice could make students more…

This report discusses the most relevant issues concerning using student test results in OECD countries. Initially the report provides an overview of how student test results are reported in OECD countries and how stakeholders in these countries use and perceive of the results. The report then reviews the literature relating to using student test…

Discusses background and theory underlying a design study for an interactive information retrieval system funded by the British Library Research and Development Department which will determine structural representations of anomalous states of knowledge (ASKs) underlying information needs. References are cited. (EJS)