To reveal what is being learned during the gaming experience, this report proposes an approach for embedding assessments in immersive games, drawing on recent advances in assessment design. Key to this approach are formative assessment to guide instructional experiences and evidence-centered design to systematically analyze the assessment argument…

This paper presents an empirical study of how Second Life (SL) was utilized for a highly successful project-based graduate interdisciplinary communication course. Researchers found that an integrated threefold approach emphasizing project-based pedagogy, technical training and support, and assessment/research was effective in cultivating and…

This study reviews the literature regarding the theoretical rationale for creating a computer-based school system simulation for educational leaders' use in problem solving and decision making. Like all social systems, educational systems are so complex that individuals are hard-pressed to consider all interrelated parts as a totality. A…

A study used a paradigm in which adults believed they were teaching a simple video game to an unseen child. In fact, the adults saw computer-generated responses that were modeled on actual child behavior. Subjects were 160 mothers, who were randomly assigned to view simulations of either responsive or unresponsive behavior. The simulations of…

Main trends in media research in Western Europe are identified, with emphasis on three successive stages since 1960: tools technology, systems technology, and reflective technology. Previously, the third stage has not been well elaborated, a statement supported by an analysis of the content and context of European media. A critical appraisal of…

The Summer Institute of Computer Literacy, held at Pepperdine University in 1982, dealt with the uses of computing in higher education administration. These proceedings contain papers from presenters at the Institute. Every presentation paper could not be obtained; in such cases permission was secured to print a previously published paper authored…

Understanding is discussed with reference to an agent-action-objective model. The formalism developed controls the processes of differentiation and integration underlying understanding. The starting point is a culturally agreed-upon expectancy or prescription that defines a particular form of understanding. Central to an investigation of how…

The effects of correlated dimensions on parameter estimation were assessed, using a two-dimensional item response theory model. Past research has shown the inadequacies of the unidimensional analysis of multidimensional item response data. However, few studies have reported multidimensional analysis of multidimensional data, and, in those using…

This report documents a computer-based gaming system for assessing recognition performance (RECOG). The game management system is programmed in a modular manner to: instruct the student on how to play the game, retrieve and display individual images, keep track of how well individuals play and provide them feedback, and link these components by…

Two order theoretic techniques were presented and compared. Ordering theory of Krus and Bart (1974) and an extended Takeya's item relational structure analysis (IRS) by Tatsuoka and Tatsuoka (1981) were used to extract the hierarchical item structure from three datasets. Directed graphs were constructed and both methods were assessed as to how…

Fiscal and monetary policies taught in macroeconomic principles courses are concepts that might require both lecture and simulation methods. The simulation models, which apply the principles gleened from comparative statistics to a dynamic world, may give students an appreciation for the problems facing policy makers. This paper is a report of a…

Canonical correlation analysis is a powerful statistical method subsuming other parametric significance tests as special cases, and which can often best honor the complex reality to which most researchers wish to generalize. However, it has been suggested that the canonical correlation coefficient is positively biased. A Monte Carlo study…

Microcomputers can be used with simulation software to provide students both with experience in the "real world" of decision making and feedback on the decisions made. Such software allows individual students to choose the roles they wish to play from a menu of diverse roles and provides alternatives for them to consider for each decision to be…

Modern aircrew training devices (ATDs) are equipped with sophisticated hardware and software capabilities, known as advanced instructional features (AIFs), that permit a simulator instructor to prepare briefings, manage training, vary task difficulty/fidelity, monitor performance, and provide feedback for flight simulation training missions. The…

The relationship between cognitive psychologists and researchers in artificial intelligence carries substantial benefits for both. An ongoing investigation in causal reasoning in medical problem solving systems illustrates this interaction. This paper traces a dialectic of sorts in which three different types of causal resaoning for medical…