A single case study was used to examine two middle grades mathematics teachers' use of short-cycle formative assessment strategies. Data was collected using multiple sources to provide a description of this single case. Participant change in knowledge of short-cycle formative assessment strategies was collected and analyzed through participant pre- and post-interviews and targeted instructional support was provided through professional development sessions designed to meet diverse needs of participants. Participant change in use of short-cycle formative assessment strategies was collected and analyzed through classroom observations using Assess Today observation protocol and targeted instructional support was provided through post-observation conferences with written feedback. Findings from the study verified that changes in teachers' use of short-cycle formative assessment strategies were positively influenced by the targeted instructional support provided to each participant during the study. The study further indicated that an assessment of teacher's present knowledge and use of short-cycle formative assessment strategies should be considered before providing targeted instructional support to maximize the learning potential for each teacher. Future research is needed regarding the importance of building student self-efficacy through teacher use of short-cycle formative assessment, as well as the importance of involving students in the formative assessment process.

School has been identified as an important arena for health interventions among adolescents. One such intervention is “Young, Empowerment and Health”, which is currently in its pilot phase. The intervention encourages primarily upper secondary school students to form health councils that will initiate, plan and implement health activities. The health councils are autonomous but act with the aid of the student health body and physical educational staff involved in the project.   Aim: the purpose of this study was to investigate the experience of an intervention in the school arena from the perspective of adult stakeholders by using a formative assessment. The information that was collected during the study described what was most beneficial for adult stakeholders in maintaining the change and reaching the project goals. The information could be used in the development of the project. Method: the study was qualitative using inductive content analysis. Interviews were conducted with key adult stakeholders involved in the implementation of the project. The interviews were then transcribed and analysed with a semantic approach. Result: a clearly described plan and goals for the project was perceived as necessary for maintaining the intervention. A distinct connection relating to the educational plan and communication among participants was described as important to the participants. / Skolan har identifierats som en viktig arena för hälsofrämjande och förebyggande arbete med barn och unga. Skolor i Sverige har som uppdrag att arbeta hälsofrämjande och med kvalitetsutveckling. Uppföljning är viktig för att säkerställa att metoderna som används och deras målsättning överensstämmer med principerna för det hälsofrämjande arbetet. Intervention Unga, Makt och Hälsa är i sin pilotfas. Projektet uppmanar unga att bilda hälsoråd som initierar, planerar och genomför aktiviteter för att främja hälsa. Fyra skolor deltog från början, men under år 2 avbröt en skola sitt deltagande till följd av att dess hälsoråds medlemmar gick ut skolan. En annan skola erbjöds då att delta. Hälsoråden agerar självständigt med stöd från personal som är delaktiga i projektet.   Syftet med studien var att undersöka upplevelsen av en skolbaserad insats utifrån de vuxna deltagarnas perspektiv genom en formativ uppföljning. Genom en formativ uppföljning inhämtades information som för tillbaka åsikter och upplevelser av framgångar respektive motgångar av projektet Unga Makt och Hälsa ur de vuxna deltagarnas perspektiv. Metoden för studien var en kvalitativ ansats och bestod av intervjuer med anställda vid skolan som var delaktiga i projektet. Intervjuerna transkriberades och analyserades utifrån en induktiv semantisk ansats. Resultatet visade att faktorer upplevda som nödvändiga för implementeringen var tydlig planering och målsättning för projektet samt en tydlig förankring i skolplanen. Vidmakthållande av insatsen upplevdes vara främst ett utbyte med andra deltagare.

This study addresses the question of formative early Christian preaching and teaching. Unlike previous approaches, I eschew synthesis across a broad range and focus instead on the earliest extant Christian source: the letters of Paul. My method draws on ancient communication practices, primarily represented in ancient rhetoric, wherein communicators rely on knowledge they presume their interlocutors to possess. Passages are analyzed according to the type of appeal to Paul's initial teaching: (1) explicit reminders of previous teaching, (2) direct appeals to knowledge not explicitly linked to previous teaching, and (3) indirect appeals to knowledge about practices, beliefs, conventions, etc. The reconstruction focuses on 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians and Romans. 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians represent neophyte and well-established Pauline communities, respectively, while Romans is of interest because it represents non-Pauline believers. I proceed with a comparative analysis of 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians. Chapter 4 lays out the rhetorical situation for these letters while chapters 5-7 investigate the three types of appeal respectively, each closing with a comparison of similar material in each letter. Chapter 8 summarizes and concludes this discussion, providing the basis for my subsequent analysis of Romans. Finally, I compare the picture from the Thessalonian and Corinthian communities with Paul's letter to the Romans (chapter 9). Topics he expects his Roman audience to know indicate points of expected congruence between Paul's own teaching and that of others. By contrast, topics that receive significant expansion in Romans suggest perceived potential for conflict. In this dissertation I identify consistent elements of early Christian instruction, ranging from Christology to apocalyptic cosmology, while also noting possible conflict. My approach places the reconstruction of early Christian teaching on firmer methodological footing than previous attempts have done and offers a rhetorically sensitive account of the teaching and how it was used.

The steady and consistent growth of online learning and the rapid development of Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis and blogs have led to innovative methods of training and instruction. As a result, continuing research is needed to develop and validate instructional design theories and models that support teaching and learning in today's technology-rich learning environment. The goal of this research was to refine the Creating Online Learning Communities for Adults (COLCA) instructional design (ID) theory by using the theory to design an online faculty development course. A formative research design guided the investigation. Formative research seeks to identify improvements for an instructional design theory based on a designed instance of the theory, in this case an online faculty development course in Web 2.0 tools and techniques. This research is a designed case applying the COLCA instructional design theory to an online faculty development course. Data sources included course documents and observations, email messages, and participant interviews. These data were used to determine which methods prescribed by the COLCA ID theory work well, what methods could be improved, and in which specific situations each method works best. As an original contribution to the discipline of information technology as applied to teaching and learning, this study sought to improve upon an instructional design theory currently in its early stages of development and informs the design of online learning communities for adults. This research is important to continued growth and advancement of contemporary instructional design theories that provide support for emerging technologies, adult learners, and online learning methods that facilitate the development of online learning communities and communities of practice.

This essay approaches the different kinds of feedback that teachers in Spanish give to their secondary level students in Sweden. The purpose of the study is to investigate how feedback is perceived by students and how students would like feedback to be. Classical studies about assessment divide feedback into two categories: formative feedback and summative feedback. Our study intends, on the one hand, to analyze if students perceive receiving one of these kinds of feedback more than the other. On the other hand, the study intends to find out if students prefer summative or formative feedback. Furthermore, we aim to analyze if there is a link between the students´ perceptions and preferences and their level of proficiency in the Spanish language. The study was carried out with 190 students from Småland (Sweden) that were studying Spanish as a foreign language at school. We used questionnaires in order to gather information about the feedback they get in their Spanish lessons and the feedback they personally prefer. The results of the study show that students do perceive receiving more summative feedback than formative feeback. The students who perceive a higher reception of formative feedback are those who have a higher proficiency in Spanish, and this fact was proved to be statistically significant. The results of the study show as well that students like to get formative feedback as much as summative feedback. Nevertheless, the higher achivers do prefer getting formative feedback in a higher grade than the lower achievers, even though this could not be proved as statistically significant.

The numbers of students with disabilities enrolling in postsecondary institutions has increased since the passage of key disability rights legislation. As a result, the need for information about accommodating postsecondary students with disabilities has increased in the last two decades, especially since the passage of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998. This study used Dick and Carey's (1996) model of instructional design to conduct a formative evaluation of a Web-based performance support system (WPSS) designed for academic administrators, instructional employees, and auxiliary service administrators to enhance accommodations for postsecondary students with disabilities. Formative evaluation consisted of expert review, one-to-one, consumer analysis, and field trial phases. During the expert review phase, subject matter experts, instructional design and usability experts, and individuals with disabilities completed surveys to assess the degree to which the WPSS contained current content, included elements of effective design, and was accessible to individuals with disabilities. During the one-to-one, consumer analysis, and field trial phases, academic administrators, instructional personnel, and auxiliary service administrators on the University of Kentucky campus completed a questionnaire using the WPSS to assess the degree to which the WPSS was effective in providing information. In addition, users completed a survey to assess their perceptions of the WPSS. Finally, data were collected to assess difficulties encountered by users. Results from the expert review phase of the evaluation suggest that the WPSS contained current content, included elements of effective design, and was accessible to individuals with disabilities. Analysis of the questionnaire scores from all phases revealed that users obtained a mean accuracy rate of 74% or higher on the in-session questionnaire. In addition, all users required a mean of 3.9 minutes or less per question to locate responses for items on the questionnaire. The perceptions of all users about the WPSS were positive. Results also indicated that users reported a variety of technical difficulties; however, the majority were related to server errors. Revisions made to the WPSS after each phase of evaluation are described. Implications of the investigation for researchers and Web developers, limitations of the investigation, and areas for future research also are discussed.

Survey research was used to conduct a formative evaluation of Quality Indicators for Assistive Technology Services (QIAT) by 120 leaders in the field of assistive technology. Survey respondents represented five different types of assistive technology interest and responsibilities: consumers of assistive technology services and family members, district and regional assistive technology leaders, state and national assistive technology leaders, assistive technology leaders in higher education, and assistive technology policy leaders. Respondents reviewed QIAT and completed either print or online electronic versions of a survey in which they provided their perspectives on the need for quality indicators, the importance of each quality indicator contained in QIAT, the clarity of each accompanying intent statement, and the usefulness of QIAT to people with assistive technology interests and responsibilities similar to their own. Results of this investigation suggested that quality indicators are needed to guide the development and delivery of assistive technology services, that the 39 quality indicators contained in QIAT are important, and that QIAT would be useful to people with varied interests and responsibilities in assistive technology. The perceptions of the majority of the participants about QIAT were positive. Analysis of the rankings indicated that every quality indicator contained in QIAT was considered important by greater than 92% of the participants and every intent statement was considered clear by greater than 82% of the participants. Results also indicated that participants believed that some revisions in the wording and reordering of the items contained in QIAT would increase clarity and that the identification and development of training and products aligned to QIAT could aid in the development and delivery of effective assistive technology services. Proposed revisions were made in QIAT as a result of respondent recommendations. Implications for practice, future development, and additional research also were proposed.

This dissertation examines settlement patterns and political and economic organization at the archaeological site of El Mesón, located in the Eastern Lower Papaloapan Basin, in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Monumental art from the site indicated that the primary occupation dated to the Late Formative (400 B.C.-A.D. 1) or Protoclassic period (A.D. 1-300), however aside from a small surface collection of ceramic sherds, the area remained uninvestigated archaeologically. The Recorrido Arqueológico was initiated in 2003 to provide data about the development of settlement in the area around El Mesón, and to examine how the area was organized politically and economically. The settlement data indicate that over the course of the Formative period El Mesón expanded from a medium sized village to become a secondary center to Tres Zapotes during the Late Formative period. The replication of Tres Zapotes’s civicceremonial architecture in the core of El Mesón indicates its subordinate status to the larger center. Over the course of the Protoclassic period, El Mesón was abandoned and a series of new architectural complexes proliferated in the area until the Late Classic period (A.D. 600-900), settlements in the El Mesón area declined. In assessing the political organization I focus on how exclusionary strategies that focus of the personal prestige of the leader were combined with corporate strategies that promote group solidarity. I argue that based on the architectural layouts and internal organization of the civic-ceremonial complexes that exclusionary strategies predominated in the area, but corporate strategies were also promoted to reinforce group solidarity among factions. This work complements ongoing work at Tres Zapotes by providing a perspective on the use of exclusionary and corporate strategies within secondary centers. This work contributes to the study of political systems more broadly by focusing on how different political strategies were integrated within political systems at the regional and local scale.

Currently, many educators are focusing on the development of Web-based material and the quality of such material needs to be evaluated. Expert review, as a formative evaluation method, is an important method to evaluate the material prior to release. Other studies have described the use of Subject-Matter Experts (SMEs) and also domain students, with enough knowledge in the subject area, as a way of enhancing the quality of the reviewed material. In addition to the SMEs and domain students a lecturer and graduate student, both in the subject discipline area, were used to review Web-based lectures on Advanced Computer Architectures. Both additional reviewers had sufficient knowledge of the discipline. The research investigates three main hypotheses: I) whether a review conducted by domain reviewers (SME and domain student) or discipline reviewers improves the quality of material, 2) whether using discipline reviewers improves the quality of the material more than domain reviewers and 3) whether there are differences in the quality of the material resulting from students' and lecturers' review. Five versions of the material were developed and used as inputs to an experiment that was designed to test the hypotheses by using questionnaires and tests. In summary, the findings of the research were that: SME reviewer and discipline reviewers were effective in producing higher quality than the unreviewed material. However, rather interestingly, the domain student was shown to be the least effective in enhancing the material. The investigation also found that there was no significant difference in the quality of the material resulting from students' and lecturers' review. Furthermore, it was found that the media used to present the material was more useful when the quality of that media was perceived to be high. Finally 90% of the subjects were willing to study Web-based lectures as part of the course.

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