Disengaged responding poses a severe threat to the validity of educational large-scale assessments, because item responses from unmotivated test-takers do not reflect their actual ability. Existing identification approaches rely primarily on item response times, which bears the risk of misclassifying fast engaged or slow disengaged responses.…

Life satisfaction is an important factor for mental health and has many positive effects on people. Considering its importance, different measurement tools were developed over the last 5 years. Among these tools, the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) is the most prominent and adapted to diverse populations, including university students. On the…

The role of academic advising in higher education remains largely misunderstood by university stakeholders, faculty and staff, students, and academic advisors. Many hold the simplistic view that academic advising is merely transmitting information to students to ensure timely graduation, a perception that limits what advising can do for student…

In 2018, Nielsen and Kreiner provided evidence that the Attitudes and Relationship to Statistics--Revised (HFS-R) questionnaire provides essentially valid, objective, and reliable measurement of three statistical anxiety constructs and one statistical attitude construct among students of sociology and public health. The purpose of the study…

This paper explores how students connect meaningfully with theory through the aesthetic experiences of problem solving together in the context of a workshop. It can be challenging for students studying design in university programs to understand how theory is relevant, when applied in practical design studio activities. In the colour workshop…

Learning through work is a common feature of preparing health professionals for practice. Current understandings of work-integrated learning or a 'work-based placement', focus on students being consumers of experiences rather than providing a reciprocal benefit to the organisation in which they are placed. More nuanced understanding of the ways…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the components of college students' readiness for connectivist learning in technology-enhanced learning environments through the development of the readiness for connectivist learning scale (RCLS). Design/methodology/approach: After the constructs of the scale had been identified, their items…

This study involved the creation and validation of a self-rated social presence measure. Study 1 utilized focus groups to create items. The focus group participants were presented with a set of items based upon past literature; through discussion of these items, a preliminary measure was created. Study 2 involved an exploratory factor analysis on…

Different variants of the selected-response (SR) item type have been developed for various reasons (i.e., simulating realistic situations, examining critical-thinking and/or problem-solving skills). Generally, the variants of SR item format are more complex than the traditional multiple-choice (MC) items, which may be more challenging to test…

Research shows that high levels of engagement help students learn more effectively, feel better about their learning, and improve retention rates. One reason why students report low engagement is a perceived disconnect between theory (what they learn in class) and practice (what happens in the outside world). This paper reports on the results of a…

Sociology instructors have long used nontraditional texts such as literary fiction to demonstrate core course concepts, increase student engagement, and develop students' critical thinking in the classroom. In this article, I explore how written assignments structured around identifying core course concepts in a dystopian novel that connects to…

This paper examines a communication model based on six theoretical facets. Each facet was operationalised according to two aspects of Habermas' theory of communicative action: strategic and understanding-oriented action. The aim of the empirical analyses was to ascertain whether the postulated model could be used to measure different levels of…

Here, we assess whether quantity representations are influenced by the perceptual biases hypothesized to manifest in depressive individuals. In contrast to this clinical model, several prominent models of numerical cognition assume that quantity representations are abstract, and therefore are independent of the items that are being quantified. If…

Two women scholars (Khmer and Black) explore how our subjectivities as researchers influence how we understand, give honor to, and (re)present our participants' experiences in ways that value their humanity. Through phenomenological methods and poetic transcription, we seek more nuanced, creative, and powerful ways of positioning participants'…

This paper examines how histories of racism, slavery, and white supremacy continue to resonate in the present through the creation and curation of an audio compilation of student narratives. Grounded in posthuman theories, the sound compilation of layered student narratives offers a starting point for exploring the relational, embodied, and…