Students’ views of assessment in project-led engineering education: findings from a case study in Portugal

According to the demands of the Bologna process, new educational methods and strategies are needed in order to enhance student-centred learning. Project work is one of those approaches. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of project-led education (PLE) on students’ learning processes and outcomes, within the context of a first-year engineering programme. It explores students’ perceptions about assessment procedures and processes. Data collection was based on individual surveys at the end and the beginning of each PLE edition and through focus groups, after a period of six months. Findings are presented according to emerging themes from the data analysis, focusing mainly on students’ perspectives of learning and assessment, the role of formative and summative assessments in PLE and their impact on learning. Implications for improving assessment practices are discussed.     

Is accreditation ‘on the right track’? The views of Portuguese academics

In many countries, quality assurance systems rely on study programme accreditation. As with all quality assurance mechanisms, accreditation should also be continuously improved in order to maintain its relevance as a promoter of study programme quality. A way to move accreditation forward is by taking into account academics’ views, interests and needs about the process, since their support for it is paramount for its success and effectiveness. This paper analyses Portuguese academics’ knowledge and views on accreditation with the aim of understanding if the process is being supported and is on the right route for being effective. It is based on the analysis of 1484 academics’ answers to a questionnaire distributed in 16 higher education institutions. This analysis reveals a moderately positive attitude of academics towards accreditation, reflected in an only moderate knowledge of the process as well as in a mild agreement with its characteristics and implementation features. This suggests that there is room for improvement to bring this quality assurance mechanism closer to academics’ expectations and needs and therefore to improve accreditation’s effectiveness.

     

Validation of an assessment centre process for the selection of school leaders in Chile

This study seeks to develop and validate an Assessment Centre (AC) tool for the evaluation and selection of school leaders, focusing on the identification of competencies that influence teaching and learning outcomes. International research supports the creation of Assessment Centres to select candidates for these roles, due to their superior predictive capacity over traditional methods. In this research, a model composed of four face-to-face instruments (an interview to assess competencies, a human resources exercise, a class observation exercise, and a strategic analysis exercise) was designed and validated which simulated the key tasks of a school principal. To establish the desired performance outcomes, three competencies and 15 indicators were selected, based on international and local standards. The analysis of performance results was obtained from a sample of 164 participants made up of teachers, school leaders and principals. The results suggest positive evidence for construct validity, concurrent criteria validity, and reliability between evaluators. Moreover, the data obtained from a sub-sample of principals, with three or more years of experience in their role, allowed for the association of their AC scores with the results of their school organisations, as measured by the National System for the Measurement of Educational Quality in the years 2013 and 2016.     

The relationship between teachers’ emotional intelligence and classroom discipline management

One of the fundamental problems of educational systems in many countries is related to classroom discipline. This reflects one of the worst problems faced by teachers. Classroom discipline management strategies play an effective role in creating positive teacher‐student relationships. One of the factors that influence behavior management in a classroom is emotional intelligence. Therefore, this study analyzing how teachers emotional intelligence influences the management of discipline in a classroom and the relationship between gender, academic formation, and service time of teachers with their emotional intelligence. Its sample comprises 559 basic and secondary school teachers. An Emotional Competence Questionnaire, a Scale of Teacher Efficacy in Classroom Management, and a personal and professional data inquiry have been used as instruments. Results show that teachers who have more capacity to deal with emotion demonstrate a greater management of discipline in the classroom. Most of the relationships in the model are statistically significant.     

Design and environmental technologies: Does ‘green-matching’ actually help?

This paper investigates whether a green kind of design helps firms increase their capabilities for inventing in the environmental domain and whether it does so more than ‘standard’ design. It also investigates whether the effect of ‘green-matching’ between new design and technologies is conditional on firms’ innovative capabilities, as reflected by their R&D expenditure. We address these research questions with respect to the world's top R&D investors, looking at their intellectual property rights at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and proposing an original textual identification of green designs and trademarks. We find that green design increases environmental inventions by top R&D investors, and to a greater extent than non-environmental ones. Standard design also stimulates environmental inventions, but to a lesser extent than green design. The ‘green-matching’ actually helps, but internal innovative capabilities are required to make it effective: a green-tech ‘prize’ emerges from green design, but only once a minimum threshold of R&D expenditure has been reached.     

Pedro Gutiérrez Bueno’s Textbooks: Audiences, Teaching Practices and Chemical Revolution

Pedro Gutiérrez Bueno wrote two editions of a chemistry textbook between 1788 and 1802. The paper offers a comparative view of both editions taking into account Gutiérrez Bueno’s biography, his intended audience and the changes related to the so-called chemical revolution. Some conclusions are at odds with common images about scientific revolutions and the role of textbooks in science. The analysis aims to shed some light on the multiple historical forces shaping textbooks and the way in which scientific change is assimilated by their writers. This research was partially supported by the program BHA2002-04611-CO3-02     

First‐Generation Undergraduate Students' Social Support,Depression, and Life Satisfaction

First‐generation undergraduate students face challenging cross‐socioeconomic cultural transitions into college life. The authors compared first‐ and non‐first‐generation undergraduate students’ social support, posttraumatic stress, depression symptoms, and life satisfaction. First‐generation participants reported less social support from family and friends, more single‐event traumatic stress, less life satisfaction, and marginally more depression symptomatology than non‐first‐generation participants, but significant generation–gender interactions showed first‐generation women doing worse and first‐generation men doing better than others.