Investigating university tutor perceptions of assessment feedback: three types of tutor beliefs

Feedback is a key element in effective teaching and learning. The issue of how teachers perceive the role of feedback will impact significantly their feedback approaches, the amount of the detail of their feedback and the time and effort expended on the feedback provision. This research was designed with the purpose of exploring how a group of over 50 tutors who were supporting an online university English course perceived, understood and interpreted the processes of assignment feedback. A factor analysis study based on questionnaire data revealed three sets of tutor beliefs towards assessment and tutor feedback: traditional–autonomous–global (TAG), student‐centred (SC) and traditional‐local (TL). Follow‐up in‐depth interviews were conducted with tutors. The TAG tutors saw scores as the most important feedback to students, but doubted the value of detailed feedback. SC tutors maintained that good tutor feedback should offer more than mere scores, and that students needed feedback in order to improve. TL tutors tended to underline all the errors and provide detailed feedback. They were negative towards the idea of their feedback being monitored. The authors identified some differing and converging tutor perceptions on assessment feedback, the understanding of which could arguably play an important role in introducing changes in tutor feedback culture.     

The secular trend for grip strength in Canada and the United States

Worldwide, body weight has risen dramatically in recent decades, raising the question of whether there were concomitant changes in physical fitness. Past research with children and adolescents has shown that body weight and grip strength are positively correlated. Therefore, it was predicted that grip strength had increased on average in children and adolescents over the past four or five decades. To test this prediction, relevant data were extracted from 18 studies for males (N = 5676 in total) and 17 studies for females (N = 5489 in total). The studies were conducted in Canada and the United States from about 1966 on, with participants' ages ranging from 6 through 19 years. Weighted least squares regression analyses showed that grip strength was significantly predicted by age but not by country. Male grip strength decreased significantly over the period covered, but the change was very small, accounting for far less than 1% of the variance in male grip strength. Discussion focuses on potential explanations for why grip strength did not change over time as predicted.     

Gender and ethnic differences in perceptions of equal opportunity climate and job outcomes of US Army Reserve component personnel

We examined equal opportunity climate (EOC) perceptions of reserve component personnel in the US Army (n = 949). We expected that gender and ethnic group membership would influence perceptions of the equal opportunity climate; and that gender and ethnic group membership would moderate the relationship between equal opportunity climate perceptions and ratings of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and workgroup effectiveness. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found the women and minorities perceptions regarding the equal opportunity climate were less favorable than White men. We also found that both gender and ethnicity moderated the relationship between equal opportunity climate perceptions and job outcomes of these groups. Our findings suggest that different groups are sensitive to particular aspects of EOC (e.g., harassment or discrimination) and that these sensitivities affect job-related outcomes.