The three-stage assessment process: Issues and implications

The three-stage process of assessment is a structured, complete approach to the appraisal of a whole child. These systematic procedures insure due consideration for all factors affecting educational functioning. Stage 1 is designed to detgermine physical, mental, or emotional disability; Stage 2 to identify significant educational needs; Stage 3 to identify specific learning competencies and necessary instructional and related services. When all three stages are correctly and adequately addressed, the inherent bias in standardized tests will be offset by the identificantion of learning competencies and the subsequent development of appropriate learning strategies.     

Customizing and Implementing Training Evaluation

One barrier that human resource managers may face in evaluating their training programs is lack of expertise in how to customize and implement an evaluation model. Using a case study approach, we conducted a research study to document the process and results of customizing and implementing a training program evaluation model in an organization. In this article, we describe the steps that the HRD managers in one organization used to customize and implement the Training Effectiveness Evaluation (TEE) model (Swanson & Sleezer, 1987), and the decisions and actions that were required to move from the model to actual practice. We also describe how the decisions and actions in implementing the model influenced the evaluation results. When the project began, the HRD managers lacked expertise in customizing and implementing an evaluation model. By the end of the project, they had overcome this barrier and gained new skills. They had learned to use the tools of the TEE model and had customized the model to meet the needs of their organization.     

Effective force and economy of triathletes and cyclists

The effective force applied on the crank, the index of pedalling effectiveness, and the economy of movement at 60, 75, 90, and 105 rev/min cadences were examined in nine cyclists and eight triathletes. Tests were performed on two days. Maximal oxygen uptake was measured and the second ventilatory threshold was estimated on day 1 using a stationary bicycle. On day 2, the four different cadences were tested at about 5% below the second ventilatory threshold. A strain gauge instrumented clip-less pedal mounted on the bicycle enabled us to measure the normal and tangential forces exerted on the pedal, while the pedal and crank angles were monitored with the aid of a video system. Based on this information, the effective force and the index of pedalling effectiveness were calculated. Cyclists produced significantly more effective force and a higher index of pedalling effectiveness at 60 and 75 rev/min and were significantly more economic at all cadences than triathletes. The significant and positive correlation between effective force and economy at all cadences suggests that improvement of the effective force would reflect on economy.     

Expertise and the PhD: Between depth and a flat place

Expertise is under sustained interrogation. We see it in so‐called edu‐scepticism and pessimism about graduates’ apparently diminishing employment prospects, challenges to the role of Higher Education institutions as arbiters of knowledge and post‐truth rhetoric more broadly. This paper examines how the PhD is being discursively positioned in this context. We ask what these changing conceptions of expertise, education and work mean for how PhD‐level expertise is understood. Drawing on a range of sources, from the scholarly to the wider media, we draw together five exemplar models of expertise to expose the transforming ratio between generalist, transferable skills and specialist knowledge. The evident diminution of specialisation raises numerous issues for the PhD as it is increasingly called upon to serve multiple and potentially contradictory needs: an innovation society on the one hand and the discipline on the other. Reconciling the tension between depth and breadth is an important issue for a degree whose hallmark is—or at least has been—depth.     

Re-conceptualising graduate employability: the importance of pre-professional identity

Despite efforts to broaden the concept of graduate employability, there remains an overarching focus on developing industry-relevant employability skills. The skills-based approach is, however, too narrow and does not fully capture the complexity of graduate work-readiness. This paper argues for the redefining of graduate employability by embracing pre-professional identity (PPI) formation. PPI relates to an understanding of and connection with the skills, qualities, conduct, culture and ideology of a student's intended profession. The ‘communities of practice’ model is drawn upon to demonstrate how PPI can be developed during university years. Here, a student makes sense of his/her intended profession through multiple memberships and differing levels of engagement with various communities within higher education's ‘landscape of practice’. Example communities include professional associations, student societies, careers services and employers. Implications for stakeholders are discussed.     

Teaching about Cuba: The concientization of a US teacher-researcher

In this paper the author offers a reflective perspective of her experiences while conducting research in Cuba in 1995 and 1996, and upon her return to the United States, teaching Cuban culture and history in a public school. In particular, she discusses the challenges surrounding her positioning, location, and accountability as author, researcher, teacher, and comparative educator. She explores the interaction of cultural identities faced as a researcher from the United States and the ideologically charged ironies that teaching Cuban history and culture evoke in an American middle school. Moreover, she chronicles her shifting perceptions of cultural identity and interfacing with the opposing responses between suspicion and acceptance in both countries. While negotiating between these two cultures, the repositioning on the continuum of critical pedagogy offers insight into the problems inherent in these situations.     

Assessment moderation in an Australian context: processes,practices, and challenges

Moderation is a quality assurance process that plays a central role in the teaching, learning, and assessment cycle in higher education. While there is a growing body of research globally on teaching, learning, and, to a lesser degree, assessment in higher education, the process of moderation of assessment has received even less attention. In a context of heightened accountability and greater transparency in the tertiary sector, the formalising of moderation processes has not been a part of established practice. In light of these changes, the purpose of this qualitative study was to identify and investigate current marking and moderation processes and practices operating within one faculty in a large urban university in eastern Australia to gain insight into the challenges to effective moderation. The findings suggest the need for moderation to be considered holistically as an inherent part of teaching and learning, and the need for ongoing staff development.     

21st century teachers: how non-traditional pre-service teachers navigate their initial experiences of contemporary classrooms

In the twenty-first century, teachers’ work has become more complex with high levels of accountability, increased bureaucratic responsibilities and unprecedented levels of public scrutiny. However, teaching fundamentally remains a caring profession, requiring well-developed social skills and emotional labour to successfully engage and motivate students. Teachers need resilience to thrive in these environments of intense and often conflicting pressures. Drawing on a transactional-ecological modelthis qualitative study explored the resilience and teacher identity development of a cohort of pre-service career-change teachers as they navigated their initial experiences in contemporary classrooms. The findings indicate that this cohort arrived to teacher education with teacher identities strongly aligned with a broad conceptualisation of care as active practice. This paper discusses how their identities and capacities for resilience were challenged and reviewed during their classroom experiences and the implications for teacher education and the profession.