Student ratings of teaching effectiveness are widely used to make judgments of faculty teaching performance. Research, however, has found that such ratings may not be accurate indicators of teaching performance because they are contaminated by course easiness. Using student ratings of 9855 professors employed at 79 different colleges and…

Background: Most previous research on beliefs on language learning (BALLs) has been focusing on tertiary level learners. Information of learners of other backgrounds is extremely lacking. Aim: To identify the BALL patterns of Chinese ESL learners undertaking vocational education in the Hong Kong context and to explore the possible influences on…

Previous studies have indicated that A-level students in the UK and Singapore have difficulty learning the topic of ionisation energy. A two-tier multiple-choice instrument developed in Singapore in an earlier study, the Ionisation Energy Diagnostic Instrument, was administered to A-level students in the UK, advanced placement high school students…

The purpose of this review is to provide educational practitioners with a brief overview of cognitive load theory (CLT) and its major implications for learning. To achieve this objective, the article includes a short description of human cognitive architecture as conceived by cognitive load theorists. Following this overview, the article provides…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a false assumption regarding the motivation of examinees on test construction. Simulated data were generated using two models of item responses (the three-parameter logistic item response model alone and in combination with Wise's examinee persistence model) and were calibrated using a…

Adopting a person-centered approach, we profiled 5th and 6th grade children's (152 boys and 161 girls) school-related beliefs about perceived task difficulty and agency beliefs in ability and effort. Five clusters were compared across key learning-related dimensions encompassing underlying worldviews (means--ends beliefs, normative difficulty,…

This article examined two item-writing guidelines: the format of the item stem and homogeneity of the answer set. Answering the call of Haladyna, Downing, and Rodriguez (2002) for empirical tests of item writing guidelines and extending the work of Smith and Smith (1988) on differential use of item characteristics, a mock multiple-choice driver's…

This study used direct assessments of language arts, mathematics and independent functioning, as well as parent interviews and teacher and youth surveys to identify factors associated with the achievement and employment of students with and without disabilities. For students with disabilities, the significant achievement predictors were…

Active learning enhances engineering education. This paper presents rationale, curriculum supplements, and an approach to active learning that may be seamlessly incorporated into a traditional lecture-based engineering class. A framework of educational theory that structures the active learning experiences and includes consideration of learning…

This essay presents a case study of the modes used in training employees at a munitions plant in Ohio between 1940 and 1945. Theories of multimodal discourse and learning advanced by The New London Group (1996), Gunther Kress and Theo Van Leeuwen (2001) and Richard Mayer (2001) inform this analysis. With an unskilled labor force and many workers…

The present study is designed to cross-validate the findings of an earlier component analysis of orthographic-projection, spatial-ability items. The earlier research identified four design components that contribute to the difficulty of orthographic-projection items. The research found that increasing Rasch item difficulties on component…

In actual test development practice, the number of test items that must be developed and pretested is typically greater, and sometimes much greater, than the number eventually judged suitable for use in operational test forms. This has proven to be especially true for analytical reasoning items, which currently form the bulk of the analytical…

Despite the existence of little empirical evidence for their effectiveness, many techniques have been suggested for writing multiple-choice items. The option "none of the above" (NA) has been widely used although a recent review of empirical studies of NA suggests that, while generally decreasing the difficulty index, NA also decreases…

Boys, ages 6, 8, and 10, were classified with regard to conceptual tempo and were presented with cartoon stimuli varying in cognitive complexity and level of affectivity. The results indicate that reflective subjects generally displayed the highest comprehension scores while impulsive subjects displayed the greatest spontaneous mirth. (JMB)

This review of the literature on five learner control variables in computer-based instruction concludes that: (1) pacing left to learner control has been found ineffective because learners tend to procrastinate or to exit lessons prematurely; (2) sequence, or content flow, has been an ineffective variable left under learner control since…