Search results

Formative assessment is of critical concern within higher education, particularly as ‘feedback’ remains a recurring source of student dissatisfaction. In contemporary times, the need to decolonise higher education emerged first in post-colonial contexts of the global south, before becoming a more general debate in contexts which historically were at the heart of empire. Literatures on formative assessment and decolonisation have, however, remained discrete and disconnected. This chapter first makes the connection between decolonisation and assessment, highlighting the need to question dominant (modern) understandings of assessment as ‘objective’ measurement. It then suggests potentially helpful strands in assessment and wider literature to re-imagine formative assessment practices that might support decolonisation agendas, discussing this with reference to the authors' previous research. It closes by suggesting some modest ways forward that more openly acknowledge the problematics of assessment as a social practice, as well as the need for further research.

Art and architecture are multidisciplinary fields with complicated assessments that, similar to the teaching and the learning process, are inconsistent with common assessment models. During submission, the presence of jurors, who have different approaches and standards for evaluating design projects, makes this issue more complicated. Numerous assessment and grading models are being used in architecture departments around the world. Some of these methods are based on the experiences of instructors from their lives as students, whereas some are based on university systems. Grading policies seem to be clear in most fields, but when the object of grading is an artistic product with different levels to be assessed and graded, the issue becomes more complex. This observation is especially true in the case in which quality is given a numerical grade.

The nature of skills that students are expected to develop and that are going to be assessed is often subjective. Such skills include invention, problem solving, and presentation. Problems of reliability, personal criterion, and unique perceptions lend difficulty in assessing such skills using traditional methods.

This research suggests that a criteria-based assessment and grading model is a more effective model in promoting student learning, making assessment and grading less complex and more explicit. The effectiveness and reliability of the proposed and implemented criteria-based grading system has been tested at Eastern Mediterranean University using distributed questionnaires and a Rasch measurement system.

Are the effects of school size transmitted in measurable quantities to the personalities of pupils? Having argued that the learning environments of small and large schools could differ in predictable ways, the authors examined the effects of these differences on the personality development of pupils. Multiple regression analysis revealed the effects of school size to be reflected in only two of eight personality outcomes — sense of cohesion and concern for persons. Two variables — attitude towards school and fear of failure — are regarded as “not proven” and four variables — functional identity, sense of internal control over events, breadth of role constructs, and cognitive complexity showed no evidence of the effects of school size.

A simplified general purpose analytical finite element model has been developed to analyze the thermal performance of a continuous flow polymerase chain reaction (CPCR) microdevice. The corresponding governing differential equations along with the appropriate boundary conditions have been solved using a self‐developed code in Matlab®. Results obtained from the finite element simulations have been validated with available published results and also showed good agreement with those obtained from commercial FEA package, ANSYS®. The present methodology has an added advantage due to its flexibility where the unit cell of the finite element model can be arranged into different orientation for analyses of different CPCR microdevice configuration. In microchannel heat sinks, the results obtained agree well with the published result which demonstrates the flexibility and robustness of present methodology to be used for various applications.

The purpose of this paper is to showcase that the integration of academic assessment with workplace performance appraisal practices can help to address the gap between graduate employability skills and employers’ requirements. Employability refers to learning of transferable skills.

The integrated assessment criteria grid by which the quality of the assignments may be judged was developed and discussed with the students. Grades achieved by each assessment criterion are analysed and inferred as to whether students have learned the desired transferable skills.

Such integration strengthens the theoretical argument on the importance of formative assessment as a way to nurture students’ learning. The transferable skills that students appeared to have learnt include “use of relevant data, meticulous, attention to details, structure & systems thinking, critical thinking and writing skill”.

Only one cohort of students is involved and their participation in the discussion is on a voluntary basis. The paper was not able to address students who did not appear to have learnt the transferable skills.

Employers are more cognisant of the quality of the management students graduating from this university. The learning of transferable skills reflects creativity development, and this contributes to the theory of knowledge which emphasises the importance of developing creativity through education.

This paper introduces a new form of formative assessment as a way to nurture students’ learning of transferable skills within a coursework assignment setting.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether oral feedback by inspectors of the Dutch Inspectorate of Education is an adequate method to support the professional development of teachers in primary education. This study aims to examine the impact of short feedback training for inspectors (focused on effective feedback conversations) on feedback quality and on teachers ' feedback perception. In addition, it aims to study the relation between immediate perception and the delayed perception of that feedback.

In an independent sample experimental design, 15 inspectors provided feedback to 40 teachers in primary education. Nine inspectors received short feedback training (the experimental group), while six others did not receive this training (the control group).

The results indicate that feedback provided by trained inspectors can foster professional development of teachers in primary education and that short feedback training has added value. The quality of the feedback by inspectors was related to teachers ' immediate perception of the feedback and the delayed perception of the feedback.

A limitation of this study is the small group of inspectors and the limited number of feedback conversations they could provide. Further research could be aimed at examining the impact of feedback of trained inspectors on the professional development of underperforming teachers.

This paper contributes to research that examines effective ways to use feedback conversations in workplace settings for the professional development of teachers.

External examining imparts one of the pivotal means for ensuring the monitoring of the guidelines and standards within private autonomous universities and institutes. External examiners are considered independent individuals who can provide unbiased, objective evaluation, and informed comment on the student’s quality of the project as compared to the standards. Hence, the role of the external examiner is vital and has a strong influence on institutional quality assurance. The qualitative research has primarily aimed to study the external examining practices involving a private university in India. Interviews were conducted mainly with the external appointed examiners; however, the internal faculty guides or supervisors were also made to participate in separate interviews. The results were coded following the content analysis framework. The research unraveled Pandora’s box of the system bottlenecks and challenges concerning the expected and actual practices. Limitations, recommendations, and future research implications were discussed.

In this special marketing abstracts issue of Marketing Intelligence & Planning a variety of topics of interest to the marketer are highlighted from the international selection of journals which feature on the Anbar coverage list. The value of a forum such as this is that quality material can be brought to the attention of the reader to which they would not otherwise be exposed. For example, would you normally take Datamation, Industrial Engineering, or The Ohio CPA?

The following address has been sent to the President of the French Republic :—