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Statistics help for students

Statistics Help For Students
A really great website that is designed for beginners in stats, and for those who need a quick and easy refresher. The pages are laid out in a very easy to read format, the explanations are crystal. The explanations help you to:

  • know how to enter data and what your data files should look like
  • see each SPSS screen as an analysis is done
  • understand how to interpret results
  • understand how to write your results up in APA style.
Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion
Z-Scores
T-Tests - Independent and Paired Samples
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) - Between and Within Subjects
Correlation - Pearson's r and Scatterplots
Helpful Resources

How to find a Research Topic (Pt 1 of 2)

Many of us find choosing a research topic to be a huge challenge! It doesn't help matters when we're told, "it can be on anything you want, as long as it connects with ....."

So we stare at a blank page hoping for inspiration! In this short two-part tutorial, I'll share with you some simple methods for finding a research topic, even when you may not know where you want to start!

However, finding a research topic is only half the challenge. The other half of the process is how to gather quality, and qualified materials to support your research. So this tutorial also includes some common and free tools you can use to help collect data and start you on the path to writing up your research!

You might also be interested in seeing how to quickly create a simple PowerPoint presentation to share your research with the world! Check out my free video tutorial PowerPoint Presentation, Quick Fast, and in a Hurry!

I hope you find this brief tutorial helpful, and if so - please leave comment and share it with your network!
~
Dr. Matthews


PowerPoint presentation Quick, Fast, and In A Hurry.

More and more often we are finding that sharing our message with groups, large or small, can best be done
using a slide presentation. One of the simplest commercial applications available is the PowerPoint slide presentation.

Even though there are dozens of features available, most general presentations don't require them, and in fact the message of the presentation can be lost in the "noise" of the bells and whistles available for the application.

Herein then, is a simple method for even the most novice of users to create a good PowerPoint presentation Quick, Fast, and In A Hurry.

For the tech savvy, there are elements not exposed in this tutorial that can be explored later.  
I hope you find this brief tutorial helpful, and if so - please leave comment and share it with your network!
~
Dr. Matthews

When Credentials Matter Less

If you don't know, and want to know, you're considered a student.


If you know, and want to know more, you're considered a scholar.


If you know more and want to share, you're considered a teacher.

Since education and learning are dynamic rather than static, everyone is a student, a scholar, and a teacher, whether they have the credentials or not. 
_____
Dr. Eugene Matthews

School's Back in Session! Here are some of the Best Note-taking Apps for the iPhone and iPad (Guest Post from Allyson Kazucha)


Best note-taking apps for iPhone and iPad

Looking for the best iPhone apps to quickly, easily, and powerfully take all of your notes? iPhones and iPads are are far better than leaving stickies all over the screen, fridge, door... you get the idea. Not only are note-taking apps nowhere near as messy, they're much easier to sort and organize thanks to folders and tags. We've already taken a look at the best text editing apps as well as the best handwriting apps but what about times when you want to jot down notes quickly and keep them easily available for later reference? Which note taking apps are the best and deserve your time and attention?

Evernote

Best note-taking apps for iPhone and iPad: Evernote
Evernote has native apps for most mobile and desktop platforms, so it can follow you wherever you go. Evernote not only supports standard, typed notes but checklists, audio, and picture notes. Evernote also lets you organize your notes into notebooks and provides tagging support. You can upload up to 60MB worth of notes a month for free, and that can include plain text, check lists, media attachments, and more. Premium accounts are available for a monthly or yearly subscription fee. Which premium you get offline support, much larger uploads, and more.
If you need the ability to save audio and media attachments, and want wide-ranging cross-platform support, get Evernote.

Vesper

Best note-taking apps for iPhone and iPad: Vesper
Vesper is one of the best looking note apps I've ever seen. It supports text, images, and tags, and any new tag becomes a new menu item in the sidebar so you can easily find your notes later. It's iPhone only but you can share notes via messages, email, and other standard options. Vesper also uses an archive approach that lets you get notes out of the way but you can easily refer to them later. You can also back up your notes, or sync them to another iPhone or an iPad running Vesper in 2x mode with Vesper Sync.
If you only need to take notes on your iPhone, and like having non-destructive archiving options, check out Vesper.

Drafts

Best note-taking apps for iPhone and iPad: Drafts
Drafts offers iCloud sync between both the iPhone and iPad versions. As far as typing notes, Drafts only supports plain text notes but can convert Markdown as well as detect links. The killer feature for Drafts, however, is its sharing options. Drafts can export and share notes to pretty much any third party service you could imagine from Facebook to Twitter to App.net clients to Dropbox. That makes it almost like time shift for text. When you have an idea, drop it in Drafts, then figure out what to do with it later.
If you need to jot down ideas quickly, but want a ton of options as to what you can do with them later, get Drafts.

SimpleNote

Best note-taking apps for iPhone and iPad: Simplenote
Simplenote, as the name implies, is a simple way to take and keep notes on iPhone or iPad. It supports tags, including the ability to tag people (contacts) for easy sharing. Simplenote also offers syncing, and includes options to publish notes to the web, and roll back to previous versions of a note. Simplenote is free to use but is ad supported. Upgrading to premium gives you more syncing options and removes ads, but will cost you $19 a year.
If syncing and versioning is important to you, check out Simplenote.

Microsoft OneNote

Best note-taking apps for iPhone and iPad: OneNote
OneNote is Microsoft's own note taking app and lets you not only take free hand notes, but create checklists, use your camera to capture anything you'd like to save for later, and much more. You can create multiple notebooks and search them or collaborate with others using OneNote. You can also take advantages of features such as ink annotation and and rich text formatting. OneDrive business users can seamlessly back up and sync their notes as well.
If you use OneDrive or are already tied into Microsoft's suite of products, OneNote is what you want.

Your picks for best note taking apps for iPhone and iPad?

These are the note taking apps we think are the best when it comes to general purpose notes most of us need to take on an everyday basis. Do you use any of the above? Let us know how they've worked out for you in the comments. If you use something else, make sure to let us know that too and why you chose it!
____________
Originally published by 
Help and how to editor for iMore. I can take apart an iPhone in less than 6 minutes. I also like coffee and Harry Potter more than anyone really should.

Mentor programs harm, more than help first-year teachers (Guest Post)

Lori Ihrig (left) explains the constraints new science teachers face in the first two years of their career. The results of her study support the stories Michael Clough (center) and Joanne Olson (right) hear from former students.
Credit: Bob Elbert
(Original post at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140421135538.htm)

New teachers deal with a multitude of challenges during their first year in the classroom, which is why many school districts develop mentoring programs to ease that transition. But a new Iowa State University study found that instead of helping beginning science teachers, these programs tend to reinforce the status quo, making it difficult for teachers to promote a deep understanding of science. Lori Ihrig, a graduate student in ISU’s School of Education, followed 10 new secondary science teachers during the first two years of their careers to study their teaching practices and the socialization process. Joanne Olson and Michael Clough, both associate professors of science education, worked with Ihrig on the study. The team found that new teachers were often pressured to adapt their practices to the status quo, even if that contradicted established research-based classroom teaching practices.

The structure of the mentoring programs these teachers encountered made it hard for them to trust their mentors and easy for mentors to exert power. In many cases, mentors reported directly to the school principal, who ultimately evaluated the teacher’s performance in consideration of contract offers and recommendation for licensure.
As a result, new teachers were reluctant to confide in their mentors, implement research-based practices that went against the status quo, or ask for help for fear it would hurt their careers. Ihrig, Clough and Olson presented these findings at the Association for Science Teacher Education conference in January, and the National Association for Research in Science Teaching conference in April.
Teachers in the study attempted to implement research-based teaching methods that promote science education goals. However, few received support, and several were reprimanded because their teaching appeared different. Many were told by administrators to adopt practices aligned with other teachers at the school, Ihrig said. This occurred even when those practices fell short of what is known about effective science teaching.
“Some teachers in the study implemented effective teaching without receiving assistance from their mentors regarding research-based practices. Others ran into so many constraints that by the end of their second year, their use of effective practices had decreased, and in some cases, disappeared,” Ihrig said. “Teachers who are capable of highly effective teaching practices are often being pressured to adopt the status quo. That needs to be talked about and addressed.”
Olson and Clough were disappointed, but not surprised by this study’s findings. “I stay in contact with most of our graduates and have a folder full of messages from former students, who describe how they are pressured to adopt archaic teaching practices,” Clough said. “Decades of research have made clear that those teaching practices do not promote deep understanding of science content, how science works and other important science education goals.”
Olson suspects the hostile teaching culture existing in some schools may contribute to the high attrition rate of new teachers. “The public usually assumes teachers leave because of the low pay, but when you ask teachers why they leave, the No. 1 reason they cite is working conditions,” Olson said. “We have individuals who left their school after the first year because it was a toxic environment.”
A hostile work environment can have a haunting effect for first-year teachers. The study found that even if teachers move to a more supportive district, they have a hard time trusting or building positive relationships with other teachers and administrators.
Teachers going stealth
Researchers spent time in the classroom observing teachers to evaluate their effectiveness. They found teachers who shared with their colleagues their research-based science teaching practices faced more negative pressure than those who did so quietly and did not call attention to their practices – what Clough, Olson and Ihrig call “going stealth.”
They explained that first-year teachers who “go stealth” find ways to navigate the constraints at their school by pretending to comply with the status quo. Many built a network of support with educators outside their school who were also implementing research-based science teaching practices. Ihrig says even though these teachers were more effective in the classroom, the situation was far from ideal.
“The problem is that we know new teachers are still learning how to teach. If they keep quiet, there’s no one around helping them implement those practices, and they don’t have people with whom they can collaborate within their school,” Ihrig said.
The need for support
The researchers do not want the study to be viewed as an attack on teachers, or as a sign of failing schools. They see it as a reflection of limited opportunities for administrators to learn about and support effective science teaching; a lack of infrastructure for safer mentoring programs; and pressures to meet external policies.
“Beginning teachers do need support and mentoring,” Clough said. “But their teaching practice is not benefiting from the kind of support often provided in school-based mentoring programs.”
It is clear that beginning teachers are capable of using research-based teaching methods and effective teaching, but they need support to further develop these practices, Ihrig said. She hopes policymakers will take note and support changes to benefit teachers and ultimately students.
“Putting new teachers in the position of transforming school culture is unfair,” Ihrig said. “We can help teachers become highly effective, if we create the right types of support. But currently we’re ushering new teachers into schools and socialization pressures are working against them implementing teaching practices that promote the science education goals we all ardently want for children.”
Reference
Iowa State University. (2014, April 21). Mentor programs harm, more than help first-year teachers. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 11, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140421135538.htm

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