Predicting student outcomes using digital logs of learning behaviors: Review, current standards, and suggestions for future work.

Using traces of behaviors to predict outcomes is useful in varied contexts ranging from buyer behaviors to behaviors collected from smart-home devices. Increasingly, higher education systems have been using Learning Management System (LMS) digital data to capture and understand students' learning and well-being. Researchers in the social sciences are increasingly interested in the potential of using digital log data to predict outcomes and design interventions. Using LMS data for predicting the likelihood of students' success in for-credit college courses provides a useful example of how social scientists can use these techniques on a variety of data types. Here, we provide a primer on how LMS data can be feature-mapped and analyzed to accomplish these goals. We begin with a literature review summarizing current approaches to analyzing LMS data, then discuss ethical issues of privacy when using demographic data and equitable model building. In the second part of the paper, we provide an overview of popular machine learning algorithms and review analytic considerations such as feature generation, assessment of model performance, and sampling techniques. Finally, we conclude with an empirical example demonstrating the ability of LMS data to predict student success, summarizing important features and assessing model performance across different model specifications.

The impact of trauma-informed design on psychological well-being in homeless shelters.

Trauma-informed design is an emerging concept that combines elements of interior design, environmental psychology, and clinical psychology. Previous reports describe the potential impact of the physical space and design of homeless shelters on positive psychological outcomes (Pable, 2012). However, there is little known research on these outcomes. This article provides preliminary support for positive outcomes through a program evaluation of a trauma-informed design of resident bedrooms at two homeless shelters in North Carolina. Residents (n = 61) were asked to take a presurvey (before room design) and postsurvey (after design) that assessed their experiences of preparedness, hopefulness, and safety. Among those who completed both pre and postsurveys (n = 43), there was a statistically significant improvement in all three factors following the design, with the largest effect sizes for safety and total score average. Additionally, qualitative findings indicate participants felt the design updates increased their experiences of dignity (n = 17) and safety (n = 13), with some indicating increased feelings of hope (n = 4). We discuss implications for other homeless shelters, as well as similar institutions that support people in transitional housing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

What Are They Thinking? Exploring College Students' Mental Processing and Decision-Making About COVID-19 (Mis)Information on Social Media.

More and more, people are abandoning the active pursuit of news, assuming instead that important information will be pushed to them via their social media networks. This approach to news makes people susceptible to the vast amounts of misinformation online, yet research on the effects of this kind of engagement is mixed. More research is needed on technology incidental learning effects, defined as changes in knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors as a result of being exposed to information while pursuing goals other than learning (e.g., entertainment). In this study, we examined how 51 college students responded to incidental exposure to accurate and inaccurate COVID-19 information delivered via a simulated social media environment. Participants' verbalizations during think-aloud protocols indicated numerous mental processes including cognition, metacognition, epistemic cognition, motivation, and emotions. Positively valenced mental processing was more often expressed with accurate COVID-19 information and negatively valenced mental processing was more often verbalized with misinformation. Negatively valenced evaluations of knowledge claims and sources predicted less engagement with COVID-19 misinformation posts. However, in many cases the relations among verbalized mental processing and behavioral responses were complex or non-obvious. For example, participants' positive metacognition and epistemic cognition verbalizations decreased their likelihood of engaging with accurate COVID-19 information, whereas positive interest was associated with an increased likelihood of engaging with misinformation. Our findings have implications for how to accurately infer people's beliefs and intentions from their social media behaviors and how to design interventions to help people be more active and thoughtful consumers of online information.

Psychological foundations of emerging technologies for teaching and learning in higher education.

As the research on the use of educational technologies increases, greater focus is being placed on the psychological processes underlying teaching and learning with these tools. In this research review, we examine six contemporary technologies identified in the 2020 edition of the Horizon Report through the lens of educational psychology theory. Specifically, we highlight the educational, cognitive, and social psychological processes that unfold during teaching and learning with each technology and illustrate how considering these processes can inform study and use of educational technologies and subsequent learning outcomes.

Call for ACTion: Transforming Dental Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Adams School of Dentistry is developing a transformative curriculum that prepares students to enter contemporary practice. The Advocate, Clinician, and Thinker (ACT) framework will provide the basis for developing a resilient workforce capable of meeting emerging health care needs over the next 40 years.

Monitoring and depth of strategy use in computer-based learning environments for science and history.

BACKGROUND: Self-regulated learning (SRL) models position metacognitive monitoring as central to SRL processing and predictive of student learning outcomes (Winne & Hadwin, 2008; Zimmerman, 2000). A body of research evidence also indicates that depth of strategy use, ranging from surface to deep processing, is predictive of learning performance. AIMS: In this study, we investigated the relationships among the frequency of metacognitive monitoring and the utilization of deep and surface-level strategies, and the connections between these SRL processes and learning outcomes across two academic domains, science and history. SAMPLE: This was a secondary data analysis of two studies. The first study sample was 170 undergraduate students from a University in the south-eastern United States. The second study sample consisted of 40 US high school students in the same area. METHODS: We collected think-aloud protocol SRL and knowledge measure data and conducted both structural equation modelling and path analysis to investigate our research questions. RESULTS: Findings showed across both studies and two distinct academic domains, students who enacted more frequent monitoring also enacted more frequent deep strategies resulting in better performance on academic evaluations. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest the importance of measuring not only what depth of strategies learners use, but also the degree to which they monitor their learning. Attention to both is needed in research and practice.

Are There Linguistic Markers of Suicidal Writing That Can Predict the Course of Treatment? A Repeated Measures Longitudinal Analysis.

The purpose of this pilot study was to predict resolution of suicidal ideation and risk over the course of therapy among suicidal outpatients (N = 144) using a novel method for analyzing Self- verses Relationally oriented qualitative written responses to the Suicide Status Form (SSF). A content analysis software program was used to extract word counts and a repeated measures longitudinal design was implemented to assess improvement over time. Patients with primarily Relationally focused word counts were more likely to have a quicker suicide risk resolution than those with more Self-focused word counts (6-7 sessions versus 17-18 sessions). Implications of these data are discussed, including the potential for enhancing treatment outcomes using this method with individuals entering treatment.

The wisdom development scale: further validity investigations.

Researchers are gaining an interest in the concept of wisdom, a more holistic yet often ineffable educational outcome. Models of wisdom abound, but few have rigorously tested measures. This study looks at Brown's (2004a, 2004b) Model of Wisdom Development and its associated measure, the Wisdom Development Scale (WDS; Brown & Greene, 2006). The construct validity, measurement invariance, criterion validity, and reliability of scores from the WDS were assessed with over 3000 participants from two separate groups: one a sample of professionals and the other a sample of college students. Support for construct validity and reliability with these samples was found, along with measurement invariance. Latent means analyses showed predicted discrimination between the groups, and criterion validity evidence, with another measure of collegiate educational outcomes, was found.

Clinical improvements of suicidal outpatients: Examining suicide status form responses as predictors and moderators.

This investigation used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to examine whether index responses on the Suicide Status Form (SSF) moderated the predicted session-to-session change over course of care in overall symptoms and suicidal ideation. Ninety-two suicidal patients at a university counseling center were studied. Overall, suicidal patients improved symptomatically and decreased their suicidal ideation over the course of care. SSF index ratings of overall risk of suicide significantly moderated the predicted session-to-session change in suicidal ideation over the course of care; patient ratings of frequency of suicidal thoughts were also moderated by index SSF ratings of hopelessness and self-hate. These findings partially replicated earlier data of differential treatment response outcomes and provide valuable assessment and treatment information that is relevant to future research and successful clinical care of suicidal outpatients.

Temporary vascular shunts as initial treatment of proximal extremity vascular injuries during combat operations: the new standard of care at Echelon II facilities?

BACKGROUND: Historically, penetrating injuries to the extremities account for up to 75% of wounds sustained during combat and 10% of deaths. Rapid vascular control and perfusion of injured extremities at forward deployed Echelon II surgical facilities is essential to limit loss of life and maximize limb preservation. We review our experience with the management of extremity vascular trauma and report the largest single Echelon II experience to date on temporary vascular shunting (TVS) for proximal extremity vascular injuries. METHODS: Data on combat trauma patients presenting to a US Navy Echelon II forward surgical facility in Iraq were prospectively recorded during a 7-month period. Patients with suspected vascular injuries underwent exploration in the operating room. After vessel control, thrombectomy and instillation of heparinized saline, vascular injuries in the proximal extremity were temporarily shunted in a standardized fashion. Vascular injuries in the distal extremity were routinely ligated. After shunting, patients were transported to an Echelon III facility in the Iraqi Theater and underwent vascular reconstruction. They were followed through transfer to the Continental United States or discharge into the civilian Iraqi medical system. Shunt patency, limb salvage, and survival data were obtained by retrospective review of electronic medical records. RESULTS: Six hundred ten combat trauma patients were treated from August 16, 2006 to February 25, 2007. Thirty-seven patients (6.1%) sustained 73 injuries to major extremity vascular structures. Twenty-three proximal vascular shunts were placed in 16 patients with mean Injury Severity Score of 25 (range, 17-43) and mean mangled extremity severity score (MESS) of 8 (range, 5-10). Twenty-two of 23 shunts (95.6%) were patent upon arrival to the Echelon III facility and underwent successful autologous vein reconstruction. All shunt patients survived their injuries with 100% early limb preservation as followed through their first 30 days of medical care or discharge into the local medical community. CONCLUSIONS: Complex combat injuries to proximal extremity vessels should be routinely shunted at forward-deployed Echelon II facilities as part of the resuscitative, damage control process.

Percutaneous correction (humeroplasty) of humeral head defects (Hill-Sachs) associated with anterior shoulder instability: a cadaveric study.

PURPOSE: The goal of our study was to determine whether a bone tamp could be used to correct a Hill-Sachs lesion by a unique technique that we developed termed "humeroplasty." TYPE OF STUDY: In vitro cadaveric study. METHODS: We created reproducible Hill-Sachs lesions in 14 cadaveric humerii, which we then reduced with a curved bone tamp using our proposed technique. Paired t tests, with the significance set at P < .05, were then used to compare the prereduction and postreduction depths, widths, lengths, and volumes of the lesions. RESULTS: The average prereduction defect measurements were 8.9 mm deep, 16.3 mm wide, 24.1 mm long, and 1,755 mm3 in volume. The average postreduction defect measurements were 1.6 mm deep, 6.2 mm wide, 10.4 mm long, and 50.3 mm3 in volume. A statistically significant improvement (P < .001) was seen in all parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Our technique was able to consistently and significantly restore all measured parameters of the Hill-Sachs lesions using a curved bone tamp. This reduction to a "small" defect may reduce the higher rate of recurrence normally found with the surgical treatment of shoulder instability when "large" Hill-Sachs lesions are present. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Humeroplasty potentially might reduce the higher rate of recurrence observed when the surgical treatment of shoulder instability involves the presence of large Hill-Sachs lesions.