Anne Traynor

Dialogic teaching (DT) is widely used in English language teaching (ELT), but its success depends on what teachers believe they can do with classroom dialogues. However, there is no task-specific scale to measure preservice teachers’ self-efficacy for using DT in ELT. As the first phase of a three-paper research project, this study develops and provides initial validation of the Self-Efficacy Scale for Dialogic Teaching (SESDT). The items were based on dialogic teaching theory and Bandura’s guidelines, and were refined through expert review and pilot testing. The scale was then given to 367 preservice teachers at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Exploratory factor analysis showed a four-factor structure: Promoting Critical Dialogue, Facilitating Dialogue, Assessing Dialogue, and Dialogic Questioning. The scale showed high reliability and a clear structure, with related but distinct aspects of dialogic teaching self-efficacy. The current SESDT provides psychometric evidence and can serve as a useful tool for future research and teacher development.

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an effective instrument to measure undergraduate students’ self-efficacy in engaging with information for online coursework. Recognizing the increasing importance of information literacy in online learning environments, the Online Information Literacy Self-Efficacy (OILS) instrument was designed to assess key competencies associated with students’ abilities to engage with information effectively. The validity and reliability of the OILS instrument were examined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and reliability analysis. The instrument initially comprised 30 items, grounded in two authoritative frameworks: the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Information Literacy VALUE Rubric. Survey responses from 259 undergraduate students enrolled in online courses at a large Midwestern US R1 institution were analyzed using EFA and reliability analysis. EFA results revealed a four-factor structure explaining substantial variance in the item response patterns: scoping research topics, obtaining information, evaluating information quality and producing research documents, and crediting sources. These four factors demonstrated high reliability, with omega coefficients ranging from 0.891 to 0.960. One item was recommended for removal due to cross-loadings and skewness. Exploratory measurement invariance analyses suggested that the factor structure was comparable for students with and without prior online learning experience. The findings support the OILS instrument’s utility in measuring students’ confidence in applying information literacy skills in online learning contexts, offering valuable insights for educators and librarians to enhance instructional strategies and support student success.

Although HyFlex teaching has been studied for decades and has become part of the teaching norm since the 2020 pandemic, studies have generally not investigated the learning experiences of students with disabilities in HyFlex classrooms. This study compared the basic psychological needs (BPN) and engagement of undergraduate students who did (SwA) and did not (SwoA) request academic disability accommodations in an introductory, active learning, human-centered design thinking course, a core component of engineering technology education. Data were collected from 3748 primarily first-year undergraduate engineering technology students between fall 2021 and spring 2024, 126 of whom requested disability accommodation through the disability office. The data sources consisted of an end-of-course survey, in which students reported their basic psychological satisfaction level on a Likert scale and described their BPN experiences and engagement in response to open-ended survey questions. As a novel contribution, this study integrates the descriptive analysis of Likert-scale measures with textual- and word-level sentiment analysis, advancing conceptual understanding of reported BPN satisfaction and engagement and revealing divergent patterns across analytic approaches. While the SwA group reported lower scores across all BPN constructs compared to their counterparts, the highest number of them provided positive feedback statements across all BPN domains. Conversely, the SwoA group reported higher BPN scores across all constructs, yet the highest number of them used negative sentiments in their responses across all BPN constructs. The majority of SwA provided positive feedback on autonomy satisfaction, while the majority of SwoA’s positive feedback was on relatedness to the instructor. Future directions for advancing engineering technology education and disability data collection in higher education are provided.

This research investigates interrelated dimensions, dynamics, and context influences of group disciplinary engagement (GDE). Quality ratings were assigned for five GDE dimensions to 2.5-minute segments, from video drawn from three different middle school science and mathematics curriculum contexts. Dynamic structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the interrelationships and changes in group engagement quality and the role of contextual moderators. Results indicated positive interrelations among all engagement dimensions, save socioemotional engagement, suggesting a mutually supportive relationship. Temporally, disciplinary engagement (DE) had a key role as a positive predictor of collaborative, disciplinary, and behavioral engagement. Open tasks were associated with higher DE, while simulations fostered metacognitive engagement. This study has implications for understanding the complexity of GDE patterns as contextually situated.

Inferences about student learning from large-scale achievement test scores are fundamental in education. For achievement test scores to provide useful information about student learning progress, differences in the content of instruction (i.e., the implemented curriculum) should affect test-takers’ item responses. Existing research has begun to identify patterns in the content of instructionally sensitive multiple-choice achievement test items. To inform future test design decisions, this study identified instructionally (in)sensitive constructed-response achievement items, then characterized features of those items and their corresponding scoring rubrics. First, we used simulation to evaluate an item step difficulty difference index for constructed-response test items, derived from the generalized partial credit model. The statistical performance of the index was adequate, so we then applied it to data from 32 constructed-response eighth-grade science test items. We found that the instructional sensitivity (IS) index values varied appreciably across the category boundaries within an item as well as across items. Content analysis by master science teachers allowed us to identify general features of item score categories that show high, or negligible, IS.

Professional testing standards explain that evidence from test content analyses delimits test score interpretations that can be considered plausible and bears on test fairness (American Educational...

The representation gap in gifted and talented education poses a persistent challenge in educational systems worldwide. This theoretical manuscript presents the Bull’s Eye Model for Affective Development—Expansion (BEM-e) an innovative framework designed to address this gap. By incorporating elements from positive psychology, the BEM-e aims to identify and nurture traditionally underrepresented students who possess camouflaged gifted and talented abilities. Drawing upon the Engagement, Perseverance, Optimism, Connectedness, and Happiness model (EPOCH), along with measures of hope and metacognition, BEM-e provides a comprehensive approach to talent identification and service. The model emphasizes the holistic development of individuals by considering affective factors, engagement, perseverance, optimism, connectedness, happiness, hope, and metacognition. Additionally, dynamic assessment is integrated during the implementation of BEM-e modules, allowing for personalized and adaptive identification processes.

Cognitive abilities are related to job performance. However, there is less agreement about the relative contribution of general versus specific cognitive abilities to job performance. Similarly, it is not clear how cognitive abilities operate in the context of complex occupations. This study assessed the role of cognitive abilities on the performance of three aviation-related jobs: flying, navigation, and air battle management (ABM). Correlated-factor and bifactor models were used to draw a conclusion about the predictive relations between cognitive abilities and job performance. Overall, the importance of particular cognitive abilities tends to vary across the three occupations, and each occupation has different sets of essential abilities. Importantly, the interplay of general versus specific abilities is different across occupations, and some specific abilities also show substantial predictive power.

During the development of large-scale school achievement tests, panels of independent subject-matter experts use systematic judgmental methods to rate the correspondence between a given test’s items and performance objective statements. The individual experts’ ratings may then be used to compute summary indices to quantify the match between a given test and its target item domain. The magnitude of alignment index variability across experts within a panel, and randomly-sampled panels, is largely unknown, however. Using rater-by-item data from alignment reviews of 14 US states’ achievement tests, we examine observed distributions and estimate standard errors for three alignment indices developed by Webb. Our results suggest that alignment decisions based on the recommended criterion for the balance-of-representation index may often be uncertain, and that the criterion for the depth-of-knowledge consistency index should perhaps be reconsidered. We also examine current recommendations about the number of expert panelists required to compute these alignment indices.