Demystifying the rubric: a five-step pedagogy to improve student understanding and utilisation of marking criteria

Marking-criteria rubrics are commonly used to judge the quality of student work, but few students receive instruction to effectively use and apply rubrics. This study investigates an intervention designed to encourage effective utilisation of rubrics. The study, completed over two years (2011: n?=?189 respondents; 2012: n?=?464 respondents) in a large first-year course, explored how five instructional activities, used formatively and sequentially impacted student learning. This intervention comprised: (1) deconstruction of the rubric and standardising the marking method; (2) examples and exemplars; (3) peer review; (4) self-review; and (5) a reflective diary. Results showed an increase in student confidence with marking criteria and assessment (89% in 2011) and a statistically significant improvement in marks. Most students (77% in 2011 and 90% in 2012) rated each intervention as useful. Student feedback indicated that substantial changes occurred between initial drafts and final submission, which resulted in improvements in student performance scores.     

Perceptions of support for secondary school learners with dyslexia in France and in Wales: case study analyses

The lack of consensus over the origins of dyslexia, assessment practices and the impact on learners across languages has led to different approaches to support being adopted across Europe. This study uses a case study design and aims at gaining an understanding of learners with dyslexic tendencies’ experiences and perceptions of Welsh and French support systems. The cross‐cultural dimension of the study makes the analysis pivot around some cultural differences which provide new insights.     

Putting Cognitive Science Behind a Statistics Teacher's Intuition

Recent advances in cognitive science have led to an enriched understanding of how people learn. Using a framework presented by Willingham, this article examines instructional best practice from the perspective of conceptual understanding and its implications on statistics education.     

Situating the student: factors contributing to success in an Information Technology course

The modern world is becoming increasingly digitalised and this is affecting the way in which humans not only live but also learn. In South Africa, the majority of students entering universities are from disadvantaged backgrounds and come from schools and communities in which they were not exposed to the same technologically rich environments as perhaps that of their fellow students. The digital literacy level at which all students enter university is thus different; yet on entering their first year of study, students from disadvantaged backgrounds are required to perform at the same level as those from advantaged backgrounds. This paper examines the role that pre‐existing levels of digital literacy, critical thinking skills, socio‐economic status and English proficiency play on the academic performance of first‐year students studying an Information Technology course.     

Vision for action in toddlers: the posting task

Three experiments examine 18- to 24-month-old (N = 78) toddlers' ability to spatially orient objects by their major axes for insertion into a slot. This is a simplified version of the posting task that is commonly used to measure dorsal stream functioning. The experiments identify marked developmental changes in children's ability to preorient objects for insertion, with 18-month-olds failing completely and 24-month-olds succeeding easily. In marked contrast, 18-month-olds preorient their empty hands for insertion into the same slots. This developmental dissociation between aligning hands and aligning objects to slots suggests that the key developmental change is in action with the goal of object-to-object alignment versus action on an object.     

New Terms of Research and Knowledge Production in Scotland: The discourse of knowledge transfer

In the past 10 years the Scottish higher education sector has experienced the emergence and continual development of policies for knowledge transfer. This policy partly parallels the wider UK higher education policy agenda and its focus on the “third mission” (i.e. the rate and extent to which universities disseminate knowledge and how commercial organizations can capitalize on it). However, the policy texts on knowledge transfer are, to varying degrees, inflected with content reflecting the specificities of the Scottish context. This paper emerges from research1 1. The paper draws on work in progress on an ESRC funded project on “Knowledge transfer in higher education in Scotland” (RES 000-22-0747). View all notes focused on this context and explores critically the ways in which the discourse of knowledge transfer has emerged and how knowledge, knowledge production, and the dissemination of knowledge have been constructed here.