Examining increased flexibility in assessment formats

There have been calls in the literature for changes to assessment practices in higher education, to increase flexibility and give learners more control over the assessment process. This article explores the possibilities of allowing student choice in the format used to present their work, as a starting point for changing assessment, based on recent studies and current examples of flexible assessment practice in higher education. The benefits of this flexible assessment format approach are highlighted, along with a discussion of classic assessment considerations such as validity, reliability and marking concerns. The role of technology in facilitating assessment method choice is considered, in terms of new opportunities for providing student choice in the way they evidence their learning and present their work. Considerations for implementing flexible assessment choices into the curriculum are presented, along with a call that further research into such practice is needed to develop a comprehensive set of practical recommendations and best practice for the implementation of flexible assessment choice into the curriculum. The article should be of interest to curriculum developers and academics considering implementing changes to the assessment process to increase student ownership and control.     

用Windows的"画图"工具绘制电路图和印刷版图

传统的手工方法绘制电路图和印刷版图,劳神费力且不规范,稍有不慎,前功尽弃。利用最常见的 Windows附件中的“画图”工具,预先建立一个“符号和网格”文档,做出的电路图形不逊色于专用绘图软件。     

听力课堂音调启动教学初探

传统听力教学模式因其错误的语言意识而无法应对学生认知负载问题。语言是形义配对组成的构式管理系统,话语中构式的语音形式负载了重要的交际信息和语流切分线索,采用整体构式教学能有效培养学生的音调能力,从而减少认知负载过重带来的焦虑。     

文化启动对文化蕴涵词再认的影响实验研究

通过不同文化（中国文化和美国文化）的图片启动及随后的文化蕴涵词（中国文化和美国文化）再认测验,考察不同英语水平的大学生是否会出现文化适应性反应。结果发现：⑴文化图片、文化蕴涵词及英语水平的主效应均不显著;文化图片与英语水平的交互作用不显著;文化图片、文化蕴涵词及英语水平三者的交互作用不显著。⑵文化图片与文化蕴涵词的交互作用显著：在中国文化图片启动下,被试对中国文化蕴涵词的再认率显著高于对美国文化蕴涵词的再认率;而在美国文化图片启动下,被试对美国文化蕴涵词的再认率显著高于对中国文化蕴涵词的再认率。被试出现了文化适应性反应。⑶文化蕴涵词与英语水平的交互作用显著。     

内隐记忆国内外研究概述

从20世纪80年代起,内隐记忆逐渐成为认知心理学领域的一个研究热点,并取得了丰硕的成果.本文对近年来国内外关于内隐记忆的特点、机制和应用等研究作一回顾.     

网络中暴力刺激对青少年内隐攻击性的影响

以初中生为被试,采用组间实验设计,通过分离具体刺激种类的方法分别考察身体暴力及言语暴力因素对不同性别个体内隐性攻击性的影响,着重考察针对身体暴力因素的阈下刺激。结果表明:(1)青少年在接受身体和言语暴力材料的启动后,内隐攻击性均显著提高。(2)不同启动材料对内隐攻击性的影响表现出性别差异。身体暴力启动材料更容易启动男生的内隐攻击性,而言语类暴力启动材料则更容易启动女生的内隐攻击性。(3)青少年在接受不同阈值水平启动条件下的内隐攻击性受到性别影响。阈值上启动材料更容易启动男生的内隐攻击性;与男生相比,女生的内隐攻击性更容易受阈值下启动材料的影响。     

体育运动领域启动效应研究

在体育运动实践中,启动效应是普遍存在的现象.本文对认知心理学领域启动效应研究范式、神经机制及相关理论模型进行回顾,结果发现:在体育运动领域有关启动效应的发生机制的研究却几乎没有出现.未来应加强体育运动领域中启动效应的发生机制的研究.     

建设检测机构评审不符合项情况分析及其应对

简要分析了实验室质量体系的特点、质量体系的层次和要素,并立足福建省建设系统检测机构近年11次评审所出现的57项不符合项,针对问题提出了相应的整改对策和预防措施.     

RESEARCH SECTION: Examining the nature and perceived causes of indiscipline in Zimbabwean secondary schools

The problem of student indiscipline is an issue of concern for teachers and parents around the world. Teachers need to maintain student discipline and for them to do so it is important that they also understand the nature of discipline problems. This study, by Lawrence Kofi Ametepee, who is studying for a PhD in special education, Morgan Chitiyo, board certified behaviour analyst and Assistant Professor of Special Education, both at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA, and Susan Abu, who is currently a graduate student in the Department of Women's Studies at Texas Women's University, was designed to examine the nature and perceived causes of student indiscipline in Zimbabwean secondary schools. The authors anticipate that such an examination will promote teachers’, parents’ and policy makers’ understanding of student indiscipline, which will, in turn, enhance disciplinary policies and practices, making schools safer for all students and more effective in their role as educational and socialising agents.     

译介学角度审视翻译中的文化意象

翻译中文化意象的失落与错位作为一种文化现象存在。对跨文化交际产生了一定的影响。传统翻译研究主要关注文化意象传递的途径和方法,而本文将从译介学角度审视翻译中文化意象的失落与错位现象,并寻求其积极的影响意义。     

Validating racism and cultural respect: testing the psychometric properties and educational impact of perceived discrimination and multiculturation for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students

Within the field of quantitative research, the diverse and negative effects of racial discrimination have become increasingly documented across a number of outcome variables (including physical, mental, and social wellbeing); however, research on the direct effects of racism is less evident within educational settings. The present investigation explored the negative impact of perceived racial discrimination, in addition to perceptions of cultural respect (Multiculturation) on both objective (e.g., student grades) and subjective (e.g., importance of school) schooling outcomes for a sample of Indigenous Australian and non-Indigenous Australian high school students. Perceived racial discrimination was found to be one of the strongest negative predictors of a number of outcomes for Indigenous Australian students, and Multiculturation was also found to have substantial positive relations with the subjective schooling outcomes for the same group of students. That the results were also generalisable to the non-Indigenous students suggests that attempts to combat racism and promote respect may benefit all members of society.     

The influence of a response format test accommodation for college students with and without disabilities

Standardised and other multiple-choice examinations often require the use of an answer sheet with fill-in bubbles (i.e. ‘bubble’ or Scantron sheet). Students with disabilities causing impairments in attention, learning and/or visual-motor skill may have difficulties with multiple-choice examinations that employ such a response style. Such students may request and receive testing accommodations that intend to mitigate these impairments, such as circling responses in a test booklet, which contains both the questions and corresponding multiple-choice answers. The current study evaluated this test accommodation as compared to using a bubble sheet or Scantron on a multiple-choice vocabulary test. College students with (n = 25) and without (n = 76) disabilities completed a vocabulary test under both booklet (accommodated) and bubble sheet (standard) conditions. Results demonstrated that answering in a test booklet, a much preferred response mode, allowed students to attempt significantly more items than using a bubble sheet, improving their overall test scores. Booklet responding tends to improve overall performance, even for students without disabilities, calling into question the specificity and validity of this accommodation.     

Sources of difficulty in assessment: example of PISA science items

ABSTRACT

The understanding of what makes a question difficult is a crucial concern in assessment. To study the difficulty of test questions, we focus on the case of PISA, which assesses to what degree 15-year-old students have acquired knowledge and skills essential for full participation in society. Our research question is to identify PISA science item characteristics that could influence the item’s proficiency level. It is based on an a-priori item analysis and a statistical analysis. Results show that only the cognitive complexity and the format out of the different characteristics of PISA science items determined in our a-priori analysis have an explanatory power on an item’s proficiency levels. The proficiency level cannot be explained by the dependence/independence of the information provided in the unit and/or item introduction and the competence. We conclude that in PISA, it appears possible to anticipate a high proficiency level, that is, students’ low scores for items displaying a high cognitive complexity. In the case of a middle or low cognitive complexity level item, the cognitive complexity level is not sufficient to predict item difficulty. Other characteristics play a crucial role in item difficulty. We discuss anticipating the difficulties in assessment in a broader perspective.     

高昂文学形象的情绪启动效应对人的记忆的影响研究

本研究的目的是探析高昂文学形象的情绪启动效应时人的记忆是否存在影响.研究结果发现,高昂文学形象的情绪启动效应是明显的,实验组的被试情绪强度均值与控制组的被试情绪均值存在显著的差异,高昂文学形象的情绪启动效应对人的记忆影响与中性形象的情绪启动效应对人的记忆影响具有显著差异.     

Examining the dynamics of mathematics anxiety,perceived cost,and achievement: A control-value theory approach

Concerns about the influence of students’ perceived negative consequences of engagement in a task (i.e., cost) on their emotions, motivation, and cognition have increased in the last decade. The use of longitudinal models is needed to provide new insights into the role of perceived cost in mathematics learning. Grounded in the control-value theory, this study examined cross-lagged relations of mathematics anxiety, perceived cost, and mathematics achievement. The participants (N = 335) reported their mathematics anxiety and perceived cost four times during Grades 7 and 8, and their mathematics grades were attained from their school records. Cross-lagged panel model analysis revealed evidence of a long-term positive reciprocal relationship between mathematics anxiety and effort/emotional cost, a gradually diminished relationship between effort/emotional cost and mathematics performance, and a positive achievement to anxiety link during the transition between grade levels. Moreover, mathematics performance is a distal predictor of mathematics anxiety through effort/emotional cost rather than a proximal predictor or an outcome of anxiety. This study also clarified the distinction in the central role of effort/emotional versus opportunity cost in the interrelatedness of mathematics anxiety and performance, where the latter failed to demonstrate significant paths. Specific timing for interventions was discerned. Early cost prevention interventions along with considerations of academic achievement to alleviate both anxiety and perceived effort/emotional are highlighted as crucial for a positive high school mathematics experience.     

File format for storage of scalable video

INTRODUCTION Digital media is becoming an indispensable par of people’s daily life thanks to the rapid developmen and wide adoption of handy digital media capturing devices, rich digital contents, portable media device and versatile sharing networks. More and more user show greater demands for enjoying digital medi services through various PC and non-PC devices ove the Internet or wireless networks. Such kind of ubiq uitous multimedia services pose great challenges to traditional coding…     

Examining the Reliability of Student Growth Percentiles Using Multidimensional IRT

Student growth percentiles (SGPs, Betebenner, 2009) are used to locate a student's current score in a conditional distribution based on the student's past scores. Currently, following Betebenner (2009), quantile regression (QR) is most often used operationally to estimate the SGPs. Alternatively, multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) may also be used to estimate SGPs, as proposed by Lockwood and Castellano (2015). A benefit of using MIRT to estimate SGPs is that techniques and methods already developed for MIRT may readily be applied to the specific context of SGP estimation and inference. This research adopts a MIRT framework to explore the reliability of SGPs. More specifically, we propose a straightforward method for estimating SGP reliability. In addition, we use this measure to study how SGP reliability is affected by two key factors: the correlation between prior and current latent achievement scores, and the number of prior years included in the SGP analysis. These issues are primarily explored via simulated data. In addition, the QR and MIRT approaches are compared in an empirical application.     

Examining the examiners: How inexperienced examiners approach the assessment of research theses

Earlier research by Mullins and Kiley (2002) [Studies in higher education, 27(4), 369–386] reported on the processes that experienced examiners go through when they assess research theses. Since that study two further studies have been undertaken, interviews with novice Australian examiners, reported here, and the analysis of approximately 100 examiners’ reports (Kiley, 2004). These studies now allow us to address the comment made by many of the experienced examiners who were interviewed that it was not wise to send a research thesis, particularly one which is not strong, to inexperienced examiners. We also wanted to determine the extent to which less experienced examiners follow the same processes and use the same criteria as their more experienced colleagues, and whether there was any basis for the experienced examiners’ comments. This paper draws particularly on the results of the interviews with 26 examiners and supervisors which indicated that by comparison with experienced examiners, less experienced examiners paid more attention to institutional criteria and the summative dimension of assessment; were unsure of the boundary conditions relating to very good or poor theses; and were more likely to refer back to their own postgraduate experience when reflecting on their approach to both supervision and examination.