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iii Literacy as a Key Variable in Economic Analysis 1 Potential Gains From Surveys 3 What Kinds of Samples Would Yield These Benefits? 9 Accomplishing the Desired Study Design 10 Conclusion 12 References 13 ii INTERNATIONAL PAPER IP94--01 NATIONAL CENTER ON ADULT LITERACY iii ADULT BASIC SKILLS IN OECD COUNTRIES: POLICY ISSUES AND A RESEARCH AGENDA David Stern Albert Tuijnman Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Abstract This report considers a sequence of three questions: How might national and international surveys contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between schooling and adult basic skills, and second, between basic skills and dependent variables such as labor force participation, unemployment, and worker productivity? Further, what kinds of samples and instruments should be created to achieve this potential gain in understanding? Finally, what must be done in order to accomplish the desired study design? iv INTERNATIONAL PAPER IP94--01 LITERACY AS A KEY VARIABLE IN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS The publication, Adult Illiteracy and Economic Performance (OECD, 1992), opens with the following statement: This . . . first OECD study on adult illiteracy . . . appears at a time when advanced industrialized countries are starting to worry seriously about illiteracy, having previously considered it largely a problem for developing nations. The underlying reason for this new concern is suggested precisely by CERI's work on human resources and technological change: it is not that schools are turning out demonstrably less literate graduates than in the past, but that the ways in which adults need to apply literacy skills are becoming far more demanding. But t...

Activities are located behaviors, taking time, conceived as socially meaningful, and usually involving interaction with tools and the environment. In modeling human cognition as a form of problem solving (goal-directed search and operator sequencing), cognitive science researchers have not adequately studied "off-task" activities (e.g., waiting), non-intellectual motives (e.g., hunger), sustaining a goal state (e.g., playful interaction), and coupled perceptual-motor dynamics (e.g., following someone). These aspects of human behavior have been considered in bits and pieces in past research, identified as scripts, human factors, behavior settings, ensemble, flow experience, and situated action. More broadly, activity theory provides a comprehensive framework relating motives, goals, and operations. This paper ties these ideas together, using examples from work life in a Canadian High Arctic research station. The emphasis is on simulating human behavior as it naturally occurs, such that "working" is understood as an aspect of living. The result is a synthesis of previously unrelated analytic perspectives and a broader appreciation of the nature of human cognition. Simulating activities in this comprehensive way is useful for understanding work practice, promoting learning, and designing better tools, including human-robot systems.

A fundamental problem in artificial intelligence is that nobody really knows what intelligence is. The problem is especially acute when we need to consider artificial systems which are significantly different to humans. In this paper we approach this problem in the following way: We take a number of well known informal definitions of human intelligence that have been given by experts, and extract their essential features. These are then mathematically formalised to produce a general measure of intelligence for arbitrary machines. We believe that this equation formally captures the concept of machine intelligence in the broadest reasonable sense. We then show how this formal definition is related to the theory of universal optimal learning agents. Finally, we survey the many other tests and definitions of intelligence that have been proposed for machines.

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Digital libraries (DL) serve communities of people and are created and maintained by and for people. People and their information needs are central to all libraries, digital or otherwise. All efforts to design, implement, and evaluate digital libraries must be rooted in the information needs, characteristics, and contexts of the people who will or may use those libraries. Like most principles, the devil is in the details — implementing and applying the principle to practical problems. Human-centered digital library design is particularly challenging because human information behavior is complex and highly context dependent, and the digital library concept and technologies are rapidly evolving. Two important aspects of human-centered design are assessing human information needs and the tasks that arise from those needs and evaluating how the digital library affects subsequent human information behaviors. Given the evolving nature of digital library development, solutions to these challenges must be process-oriented and iterative rather than product-oriented and summative. Given the complexity of human information needs and the uncertainty about the effects of new systems, a multiplicity of data views is essential to guide design and understand the impact of digital libraries. This chapter focuses on two elements of design--assessing information needs and ongoing evaluation of impact. Multifaceted approaches to needs assessment and evaluation of digital libraries are illustrated with three case studies, with particular emphasis on a users needs assessment conducted as part of a

We live in a society where concepts of self, community and "what is right and wrong " are constantly changing. This makes it particularly challenging for young people to construct a sense of self and to identify their most cherished values. Therefore, there is an amounting pressure in schools and society to create learning environments to explore these issues. Two research questions are at the heart of the work presented in this paper: What kind of learning environment will afford opportunities for young people to naturally engage in reflection and discussion about issues of identity, in particular personal and moral values? And, how can technologies have an impact on character and moral education? I propose identity construction environments as technological tools purposefully designed with the goal of supporting young people in the exploration of these issues. I first describe the design principles that distinguish these environments from other learning technologies. I also specify the learning experiences they do afford _ namely the understanding of identity as a complex construction composed by different elements, including personal and moral values. Then I present the conceptual foundations and implementation of the Zora identity

Intelligence, expertise, ability and talent, as these terms have traditionally been used in education and psychology, are socially agreed upon labels that minimize the dynamic, evolving, and contextual nature of individual–environment relations. These hypothesized constructs can instead be described as functional relations distributed across whole persons and particular contexts through which individuals appear knowledgeably skillful. The purpose of this article is to support a concept of ability and talent development that is theoretically grounded in 5 distinct, yet interrelated, notions: ecological psychology, situated cognition, distributed cognition, activity theory, and legitimate peripheral participation. Although talent may be reserved by some to describe individuals possessing exceptional ability and ability may be described as an internal trait, in our description neither ability nor talent are possessed. Instead, they are treated as equivalent terms that can be used to describe functional transactions that are situated across person-in-situation. Further, and more important, by arguing that ability is part of the individual–environment transaction, we take the potential to appear talented out of the hands (or heads) of the few and instead treat it as an opportunity that is available to all although it may be actualized more frequently by some.

ABSTRACT: Formative assessment, in this article, is defined as “the process used by teachers and students to recognize and respond to student learning in order to enhance that learning, during the learning. ” The findings of a two-year research project in New Zealand indicate that formative assessment has the following characteristics: responsiveness, sources of evidence, a tacit process, using professional knowledge and experiences, an integral part of teaching and learning, formative assessment is done by both teachers and students, the purposes for formative assessment, the contextualized nature of the process, dilemmas, and

From autumn 1998 to spring 2001, 27 Swedish children (14, at age 5 and 13 at age 7) partnered with researchers supported by the European Union 1 to create new storytelling technologies for children. After each of the many design activities, children were asked to reflect with drawings and/or writing in a bound paper journal. As the project concluded in year three, the children’s journals were analyzed and four constructs emerged from the data: learner, critic, inventor, and technology design partner. This study examines the motivation for such a research and learning experience, describes the changes in roles we saw represented in our child partners ’ journals, and suggests possible future directions for educators and technology developers.