In this study we examined the reliability and validity of various growth indicators in written expression for middle school students. In addition, we examined the effects of type and duration of writing on the validity and reliability of the growth indicators. Students ( N = 112) in Grades 7 and 8 composed two story writing and two descriptive writing pieces. For each sample, students wrote for 3 and 5 minutes. The most reliable and valid predictor of student writing proficiency as measured by both teacher ratings and a district writing test was correct minus incorrect word sequences. No differences were found related to type or duration of writing.

Academic medical centers (AMCs) today prioritize digital innovation. In efforts to develop and disseminate the best technology for their institutions, challenges arise in organizational structure, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and creative and agile problem solving that are essential for successful implementation. To address these challenges, the Digital DesignLab was created at NYU Langone Health to provide structured processes for assessing and supporting the capacity for innovative digital development in our research and clinical community. Digital DesignLab is an enterprise level, multidisciplinary, digital development team that guides faculty and student innovators through a digital development “pipeline”, which consists of intake, discovery, bootcamp, development. It also provides a framework for digital health innovation and dissemination at the institution. This paper describes the Digital DesignLab’s creation and processes, and highlights key lessons learned to support digital health innovation at AMCs.

The predictive validity of active responding on a computer-based groupware system was examined with 48 second graders. Students' achievement at the end of a school year (final performance) was predicted with two independent variables: (a) active responding during the school year and (b) achievement at the beginning of the school year (initial performance). The results showed that active responding correlated highly with initial and final performance measures and that active responding contributed significantly to predicting final performance when initial performance was controlled for. As expected, students with higher initial performance participated significantly more in classroom activities than did those with lower initial performance. We conclude that active responding on a computer-based groupware system can be used as a process variable indicative of later achievement and that classroom teachers can use students' active responding to formatively evaluate instruction.

Distance education can be used to address the dilemmas of teacher shortages and attrition rates that plague tbe field of special education by supporting preservice and inservice training of individuals who, because of geography or circumstance, cannot access higher education. This paper examines three problems inherent in the delivery of distance education and uses the teacher effectiveness literature as a context for exploring potential enhancements. An inservice workshop is described in which distance education was supplemented with a groupware technology that facilitated principles of effective instruction. Outcomes of the workshop, benefits and practical considerations related to groupware use, and areas of future research are outlined.