Laboratory courses have been the focus of much research and debate in the field of chemistry. One goal for the laboratory that is consistently cited by faculty is student learning of hands-on skills. Despite this, hands-on skills are rarely assessed in practice because to do so is resource intensive. Digital badges allow each individual student to…

Alignment between K-12 education and the workforce is critical because jobs are changing. Students must be prepared not only for the jobs of today but also for the jobs of the future. Securely linking data between state K-12 and workforce data systems can create a bridge between these agencies as they develop shared career readiness goals for…

As scientific research becomes more data intensive, there is an increasing need for scalable, reliable, and high performance storage systems. Such data repositories must provide both data archival services and rich metadata, and cleanly integrate with large scale computing resources. ROARS is a hybrid approach to distributed storage that provides…

For the Spring 2015 semester of the Public Library Management course, students were given digital badges along with grades for their coursework. For each topic's corresponding assignment, students received a traditional grade and those achieving at least an A- received a digital badge that represented the skill or knowledge demonstrated. By using…

This study contributes knowledge about how a digital badge system integrated into an online, subject-matter-specific, and competency-based professional development (PD) program affected teachers' experiences with and perceptions of the program activities. The report presents findings from a one-year exploratory study of an online PD program, and…

Over the past several decades, millions of digital objects of significant scientific, economic, cultural, and historic value have been published and distributed to libraries and archives on removable media. Providing long-term access to these documents, media files, and software executables is an increasingly complex task because of dependencies…

In order to determine if there is an adequate amount of storage in the elementary classrooms of the South Bend Community School Corporation, 180 teachers representing a random selection of 30 percent of all K-6 teachers were sent a questionnaire by means of the school's mail service. Responses from 97 (54 percent) of the sample were utilized.…

This study on the management and use of state documents is included in the Indiana Library Studies. (Other reports in this series are available as ED 044 131 through 044 145.) Options for improvement and a plan of action for improved government documents management are given based upon studies of: (1) the present management of state documents in…

The project described was designed to develop and disseminate reports on quality Indiana research and development products on vocational education to appropriate state and national target audiences; to implement a system for acquiring, organizing, storing, retrieving and disseminating research and development documents to meet the identified needs…

In recent years the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township in Indianapolis has been awash in data. In attempts to improve levels of student achievement, the authors collected all manner of statistical details about students and schools and attempted to perform data analysis as part of the school improvement process. The authors were never…

The commoditization of low-cost hardware has enabled even modest-sized laboratories and research projects to own their own "supercomputers." The authors argue that this local solution undermines rather than amplifies the research potential of scholars. CIOs, provosts, and research technologists should consider carefully an overall…

This detailed report and analysis of school bus transportation in Indiana is divided into the following topics: transportation policies; bus utilization; the bus driver and his terms of employment; bus ownership; insurance, storage, maintenance, and fuel costs; bus ownership and costs; and the transportation director. A strong case is made for…

The Interim Study Committee on Library Issues was directed to study all aspects of public libraries, and review the space and document security problems of the state archives. The "Introduction and Reasons for Study" section highlights the Committee's 1993 findings and recommendation; 1994 goals; and conditions at the state archives. The…

This publication is a result of a project undertaken in May 1898 to improve the care and management of the records of Clay Community School Corporations (CCSC), Indiana. In 1991, the CCSC conducted a survey of their public records in order to make more efficient use of their space and reduce paperwork. The chief product of their efforts was a…

A national industrial distribution association approached the authors to develop a case study for its association members. The national association assumed responsibility for identifying educational needs of upper level, mid level, and lower level personnel in the industry. In the previous year, a case study had been developed to educate upper…