Evaluating an earlybird scheme: encouraging early assignment writing and revising

It is widely suggested that feedback on assignments is useful to students’ learning, however, little research has examined how this feedback may be provided in large classes or the actual effects of such a scheme. We designed and implemented a voluntary ‘earlybird scheme’ that provided detailed feedback to undergraduate Business students on a first draft of a literature review. We then evaluated the effect of this scheme on students’ final marks for the assignment, the scheme’s usage, and students’ perceptions of the scheme. We found that although the usage of the scheme was quite low, it increased the learning of the students who did use it. The most common reason for not using the scheme was a lack of time and, therefore, given the beneficial nature of the scheme overall, we suggest that future implementations include greater structure or a complementary time‐management workshop.     

Young children’s ability to make predictions about novel illnesses

Understanding disease transmission is a complex problem highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. These studies test whether 3- to 6-year-old children in the United States use information about social interactions to predict disease transmission. Before and during COVID-19, children predicted illness would spread through close interactions. Older children outperformed younger children with no associations between task performance and pandemic experience. Children did not predict that being hungry or tired would similarly spread through close interactions. Participants include 196 three- to six-year-olds (53% girls, 47% boys; 68% White, 9% Black, 7% Asian, 6% Hispanic or Latinx), with medium-sized effects (d = .6,  = .3). These findings suggest that thinking about social interaction supports young children's predictions about illness, with noted limitations regarding children's real-world avoidance of disease-spreading behaviors.     

Critical factors that influence a young person’s journey toward sustainable employment

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This article examines the employment trajectories of 50 young job seekers to gain insight into the critical factors that influence a...     

EVALUATING TEACHING AND ASSESSING TEACHERS IN UNIVERSITIES

The evaluation of teaching and the assessment of teachers are similar activities with very different aims. Both are feasible, once we abandon the idea that they have to be based on explicit criteria of good teaching. This point is argued both on the basis of experience with established practice in higher education and through a comparison with similar practices in other professions. The latter leads to the construction of a model which uses students, peers, self and superiors in a way that allows an active role to the person assessed. Finally, attention is drawn to the need for an educational development unit to provide training, help and counselling as an adjunct to assessment.     

The relationship between motor skills difficulties and self-esteem in children and adolescents: a systematic literature review

Research findings indicate that there appears to be a relationship between poor motor skills and self-esteem, however this relationship is ambiguous. This review examines the effects of poor motor skills on global and/or domain specific self-esteem. Four databases, Google Scholar and the Manchester Online library were searched for articles focusing on motor skills and self-esteem in children and adolescents. A date range of between January 2000 and July 2015 was specified to ensure sufficient overlap with the most recent meta-analysis. From the database searches, 26 potentially relevant studies were identified and from these 26, eight studies met the inclusion criteria. A synthesis of the studies reveals that there appears to be a relationship between motor skills and self-esteem, however this relationship is complex and likely to vary depending on age, gender and co-morbidity. Implications for educational psychology practice are discussed.     

Evaluating MBA-Program Admissions Criteria: The Relationship Between Pre-MBA Work Experience and Post-MBA Career Outcomes

It has become common practice among U.S. business schools to require potential students to have substantial work experience before admission to MBA programs. Yet, the benefits of this selection criterion have not been fully articulated nor empirically examined. This article explores the relationships between years of pre-MBA work experience and post-MBA career outcomes. Specifically, we examine the effects of prior work experience on cash compensation, career satisfaction, number of promotions, and individuals' propensity to stay with their first post-MBA employer. Results indicate that previous work experience is not significantly related to graduates' tenure in their first post-MBA position. Furthermore, counter to conventional wisdom, MBAs without prior work experience were more satisfied, had received more promotions, and earned more cash compensation than some of their more experienced counterparts. The implications of these findings for those responsible for admissions in graduate professional schools and for corporate recruiters are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.     

Seeking big ideas in algebra: the evolution of a task

In this paper we describe a strand of activities for teachers of mathematics that we used with two cohorts of participants in a professional development program called Revitalizing Algebra (REAL). We first discuss our goals and describe the participants, and then we describe the construction and selection of the tasks followed by teacher responses. Finally, we reflect on different iterations of the tasks, their impact on the teachers’ thinking and practice, and the role of school and department culture in the process of change.