Teaching About Performance Assessment

How should we teach prospective teachers about performance assessment? What are the issues and concerns that new teachers will encounter as they begin their teaching careers? How can assessment and instruction be better integrated in classrooms?     

In Practice: Communication,communication, communication: The three rules of large‐group planning

One college's commitment to large‐group planning resulted in a partnership between academic affairs and student affairs that has created positive student learning outcomes beyond the expected.     

A multivariate analysis of personality, values and expectations as correlates of career aspirations of final year medical students

This study reports on the career intentions of 179 final year medical students who completed an online survey that included measures of personality, values, professional and lifestyle expectations, and well-being. Logistic regression analyses identified the determinants of preferred medical specialty, practice location and hours of work. Understanding the expectations and values of this generation of doctors will assist workforce planners to address expected shortages and mal-distribution of practitioners.     

Contextualising practice: Hallmarks of effective teachers of writing

This study identifies practices of effective teachers of writing. Three schools with significantly higher achievement in an area that underperforms nationally were identified and within them teachers whose students exhibited superior progress were selected. Multiple data collection methods included lesson observation, analysis of the classroom environment, teacher and student interviews and teacher documentation. Common was a commitment to formative assessment practices and classroom environments supportive of student literacy learning. Hallmarks of teachers whose students showed a greater awareness of their learning were a sense of purpose and meaningfulness; of coherence or connectedness and of being consistent and systematic. This paper argues that student achievement in writing is likely to be higher when teachers exhibit strength s in these hallmarks.     

Program Assessments: Success Strategies for Three Canadian Teaching Centers

Program assessments are an essential part of the ongoing survival of teaching centers performed by faculty development personnel at institutions of higher education. Little research is available to guide developers in performing these assessments. In this article we describe assessments conducted at three Canadian universities and highlight the theoretical models used to guide the process. Reflections on the strengths and challenges are discussed for each program assessment for the purpose of assisting faculty developers in performing similar program assessments of their faculty development offices.

Reviews

Making Sense of Standards and Technologies for Serials Management: A Guide to Practice and Future Developments for Librarians, Publishers and Systems Developers edited by Rosemary Russell. London: Library Association Publishing, in association with the UK Office for Library and Information Networking, University of Bath, April 2000. Pp. 192. Hardback, £39.95. ISBN 1‐85604‐338‐X Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy by Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster. Harvard Business School Press, 2000. Pp. 274, Hardback, £18.99. ISBN 0‐87584‐877‐X The Legal and Regulatory Environment for Electronic Information, 3rd edn by Charles Oppenheim. Infonortics In‐depth Briefings, 1999. Pp. 231. Hardback, £55.00. ISBN 1‐873699‐53‐0     

Writting for today’s child

Judy Delton, who has written numerous children's books, provides an author’s view of trends in children's literature, the role of series books, the importance of timing, the need for honesty in writing for children, and the rewards of being a children's book author. Judy Delton is the author of more than one hundred books for children and adults, among them thePee Wee Scout series,The Condo Kids, andAngel. She has four children who are also writers and artists.