Prior degree and student assessment performance: how can evidence guide decisions on assessment policy?

This study aimed to provide evidence to guide decisions on the type and timing of assessments in a graduate medical programme, by identifying whether students from particular degree backgrounds face greater difficulty in satisfying the current assessment requirements. We examined the performance rank of students in three types of assessments and also calculated the relative risk of failure in the summative assessments for four cohorts over all four years of a four‐year graduate medical programme. Our findings suggest that early summative assessment may disadvantage the very students who create the diversity that the faculty values, particularly if methods such as Single Best Answer questions are used, unless students are provided with additional support in bridging their knowledge gap. Use of assessment methods such as Modified Essay Questions and Objective Structured Clinical Examinations appears to be more justifiable on educational grounds.     

Book reviews

Clinical sports medicine, Robert C. Cantu, (ed.), The Collamore Press, Lexington, Massachusetts, Toronto, 1984. 219 pp, £19.95 (hb), ISBN 0 669 06842 X

Sports injuries, a self‐help guide, Vivian Grisogono, John Murray Ltd, London, 1984. 293 pp, £7.95 (hb), ISBN 0 7195 4111 5

Athletes’ guide to mental training, Robert N. Nideffer, Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois (distributed in the UK by Eddington Hook & Co.) 1985. vii +156 pp, $9.95 (pb), ISBN 0 931250 96 X

Scientific foundations of coaching, R.R. Pate, B. McClenaghan and R. Rotella, Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia, 1984. xii + 344 pp, £21.95(hb), ISBN 0 03 057961 9

Mathematics in sport, M. Stewart Townend, Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 1984. 202 pp (hb), ISBN 0 85312 717 4

Frontiers of exercise biology, ’Big Ten Body of Knowledge’ symposium series, Vol. 13 K.T. Borer, D.W. Edington and T.P. White (eds), Human Kinetics Publishers Inc., Champaign, Illinois, (distributed in the UK by Edington Hook & Co.), 1983. vii + 295 pp, $31.95(hb), ISBN 0 931250 49 8

The knee, Philippe Segal and Marcel Jacob, Wolfe Medical Publications, Frome, Somerset, 1984. 143 pp (hb), £15, ISBN 2 224 00887 2

Psychological foundations of sport, J.M. Silva and R.S. Weinberg (eds), Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois, (distributed in the UK by Eddington Hook & Co), 1984. xxiv + 528 pp, £22.50 (hb), ISBN 0 93 1250 59 5

Physical activity and the social sciences, W. Neil Widmeyer, Mouvement Publications Inc., Ithaca, 1983. 472 pp, £9.00 (pb), ISBN 0 932392 13 X     

Presenter passion and presentation design on reviewer assessment and subsequent success: An empirical study of high technology proposal and business plan presentations

We investigate two fundamental research questions related to the funding of early-stage technology enterprises. First, does presentation design, and the presenting entrepreneur's passion and preparedness, influence experts' assessment of the merit and commercialization potential of an emerging firm's technology? Second, are the entrepreneur's passion and preparedness during a formal presentation associated with future technology success? We analyze twenty-two video-taped presentations to a U.S. Department of Defense technology transfer and granting consortium, and track subsequent technology success. From the data it appears that both entrepreneurial passion and presentation design does influence expert assessment of a technology, and future commercialization success can be predicted to some extent by the level of entrepreneurial passion exhibited during the presentation.     

Reliability and validity of field-based measures of leg stiffness and reactive strength index in youths

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess the reliability of a mobile contact mat in measuring a range of stretch–shortening cycle parameters in young adolescents. Additionally, vertical leg stiffness using contact mat data was validated against a criterion method using force–time data. The reliability study involved 18 youths completing a habituation and three separate test sessions, while 20 youths completed a single test session for the validity study. Participants completed three trials of a squat jump, countermovement jump, and maximal hopping test and a single trial of repeated sub-maximal hopping at 2.0 Hz and 2.5 Hz. All tests were performed on the contact mat. Reliability statistics included repeated-measures analysis of variance, intraclass correlation coefficient, and coefficient of variation (CV), while the correlation coefficient (r) and typical error of estimate (TEE) were reported for the validity study. Squat jump height was the most reliable measure (CV = 8.64%), while leg stiffness during sub-maximal hopping, and reactive strength index produced moderate reliability (CV = 10.17–13.93% and 13.98% respectively). Measures of leg stiffness obtained from contact mat data during sub-maximal hopping were in agreement with the criterion measure (r = 0.92–0.95; TEE = 6.5–7.5%), but not during maximal hopping (r = 0.59; TEE = 41.9%). The contact mat was deemed a valid tool for measuring stretch–shortening cycle ability in sub-maximal but not maximal hopping. Although reliability of performance was generally moderate, the tests offer a replicable assessment method for use with paediatric populations.     

What spurs curriculum making in physical education? Four narratives of experienced teachers

Anchored in the narrative inquiry tradition, this paper examines commonly held motives about curriculum making from the perspectives of four experienced physical education teachers in Korea. Field texts were collected throughout by employing narrative research tools such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, class observations and documents analyses, and transformed into research texts using broadening, burrowing, and storying and restorying as suggested by Connelly and Clandinin. For experienced physical educators, this paper illuminates what motivates curriculum making as a narrative phenomenon storied and restoried over time. Different stories produced different motives of curriculum making, and a number of issues related to teacher development for curriculum making emerged.     

Departmental morale as a function of the perceived performance of department heads

The object of this paper is to analyze some of the factors underlying differing levels of morale in university departments. Morale is conceived to be primarily a product of perceived department-head performance, although it is also suggested that environmental and satisfaction variables may be important. Morale is seen as a potential symptomatic attribute which might be used in diagnosing organizational difficulties. The authors did indeed find, using multiple discriminant analysis on departmentally aggregated data, that the perceived performance of department heads was more important in predicting levels of morale. In addition, department size was also found to be useful. The conclusions drawn were that morale could be used as a symptom of departmental (or organizational) well being and that such data could be useful to those managing department heads both in the selection of department heads and in their ongoing supervision.The authors were designated by Western Kentucky University to supervise the collection and analysis of the data described. The data were used with the permission of the Office of the President, Western Kentucky University.     

Hypervideo

Methods for incorporating video in hypermedia programs are discussed in this article. Hypermedia is defined, and linear and interactive video are contrasted. It is argued that hypermedia presents unique problems in knowledge representation affecting video production, and that techniques are required differing from those for linear video and other forms of interactive video. Suggestions are made for giving interactive video the “look and feel” of hypermedia that primarily involve condensing information and accelerating presentation pace. They are based on the authors' experiences evaluating interactive media and creating “compressed” video programs. Existing media and visual ability research is re-interpreted to support these interactive, “hypervideo” methods.