Early Effects of North Carolina’s Comprehensive Articulation Agreement on Credit Accumulation Among Community College Transfer Students

Research in Higher Education - Community college transfer pathways, whereby students begin their postsecondary enrollment at a 2-year institution, are an increasingly popular option for students...     

Assessment standards: the role of communities of practice and the scholarship of assessment

This article considers the methods and difficulties of establishing, sharing and applying assessment standards within module teams working in a business school. Against a background of increasing reliance on explicit knowledge to establish standards in the HE sector the study looks at ways in which staff within module teams attempted to reach a common view of assessment standards through sharing tacit knowledge in order to make consistent judgements about student work. In so doing it identifies and questions the assumptions, myths and beliefs that bolster the culture around standard setting and marking/grading. The paper questions whether academic communities of practice provide an adequate framework to support the sharing of assessment standards. In particular it argues that the scholarship of assessment would support the development of a specialist assessment and assessment standards discourse within communities that could, in turn, support the sharing of assessment standards.     

Let’s stop the pretence of consistent marking: exploring the multiple limitations of assessment criteria

Unreliability in marking is well documented, yet we lack studies that have investigated assessors’ detailed use of assessment criteria. This project used a form of Kelly’s repertory grid method to examine the characteristics that 24 experienced UK assessors notice in distinguishing between students’ performance in four contrasting subject disciplines: that is their implicit assessment criteria. Variation in the choice, ranking and scoring of criteria was evident. Inspection of the individual construct scores in a sub-sample of academic historians revealed five factors in the use of criteria that contribute to marking inconsistency. The results imply that, whilst more effective and social marking processes that encourage sharing of standards in institutions and disciplinary communities may help align standards, assessment decisions at this level are so complex, intuitive and tacit that variability is inevitable. We conclude that universities should be more honest with themselves and with students, and actively help students to understand that application of assessment criteria is a complex judgement and there is rarely an incontestable interpretation of their meaning.     

The I files,the truth is out there: science teachers’ constructs of inquiry

This article is concerned with the personal constructs of science teachers about inquiry in selected schools in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. While there is a large volume of existing literature which advocates the use of inquiry in the science classroom to enhance students' engagement with, and learning of science, relatively few of these studies represent teachers' voice. Therefore, we believe that it is important and distinctive to report teachers' constructs of inquiry and related concerns regarding its use in the science classroom. We identify the key constructs from 10 participating teachers and discuss these amongst a backdrop of policy implications for inquiry approaches in English secondary school science classrooms. Personal Construct Theory was used to underpin the study and frame data collection and analysis. Key findings show that the teachers identify an inquiry approach as being effective in stimulating students' independent learning and interest in science but issues such as time and confidence inhibit their deployment of inquiry approaches.     

Dynamic assessment: supporting educational psychologists’ practice through the use of video during supervision

ABSTRACT

Dynamic assessment (DA) is appealing to educational psychologists (EPs) due to: its flexibility, allowing EPs to adjust materials and processes to fit the assessment context; its usefulness, revealing ideas about how the next steps for learning might be achieved; and its focus on strengths. In Feuerstein’s words, “it is the instances of success of the individual that are the focal point for analysis for the reasons of success and failure”. Given the appeal of DA, it is frustrating that it has not been taken up more by practitioners. This paper will explore what DA is, and what it is not, summarise its advantages, consider why it is not more widely used, and introduce one way in which EPs can receive support for DA; using video of an EP “doing” DA within supervision in order to reflect on “good” DA.     

Dis-placing place-making: how African-American and immigrant youth realize their rights to the city

ABSTRACT

Notions of place-making assume that individuals and groups of people have legitimate ‘rights to the city.’ This paper unsettles these notions to incorporate the politically and legally tenuous relationships African-American and Immigrant youth have to their cities. We describe a community-based digital STEAM curriculum called Mobile City Science that invited youth to engage in place-making efforts using mobile and location-aware technologies. The design study relied on a contradiction that is fundamental to youth place-making in an era of white nationalism: for African-American and Immigrant youth to engage power structures in community development processes, they had to engage in a series of dis-placements that removed them from embodied experiences and in-location perceptions of their communities. Self-censoring, witnessing, historicizing, and re-veiwing were all examples of dis-placements youth enacted to speak truth to power with digital and mobile tools.     

The Impact of Relational Characteristics and Reasons for Topic Avoidance on Relational Closeness

Although research suggests that the act of topic avoidance itself has consequences for romantic partners, it seems equally likely that the antecedent conditions underlying these decisions to avoid certain topics also lead to important relational outcomes. Framed by communication boundary management theory, relationship characteristics, motivation for topic avoidance, and implications for relational closeness were examined. Findings indicate that relational commitment characteristics and individuals' reported rationale for topic avoidance are related to perceptions of relational closeness. These results illustrate the importance of understanding the underlying factors that motivate the decision to engage in topic avoidance and their impact on romantic relationships.     

The effects of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) ingestion on high intensity cycling capacity

Abstract

Ten healthy, non-cycling trained males (age: 21.2 ± 2.2 years, body mass: 75.9 ± 13.4 kg, height: 178 ± 6 cm, [Vdot]O_2PEAK: 46 ± 10 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1) performed a graded incremental exercise test, two familiarisation trials and six experimental trials. Experimental trials consisted of cycling to volitional exhaustion at 100%, 110% and 120% W_PEAK, 60 min after ingesting either 0.3 g · kg^?1 body mass sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) or 0.1 g · kg^?1 body mass sodium chloride (placebo). NaHCO₃ ingestion increased cycling capacity by 17% at 100% W_PEAK (327 vs. 383 s; P = 0.02) although not at 110% W_PEAK (249 vs. 254 s; P = 0.66) or 120% W_PEAK (170 vs. 175 s; P = 0.60; placebo and NaHCO₃ respectively). Heart rate (P = 0.02), blood lactate (P = 0.001), pH (P < 0.001), [HCO₃ ^?], (P < 0.001), and base excess (P < 0.001) were greater in all NaHCO₃ trials. NaHCO₃ attenuated localised ratings of perceived exertion (RPE_L) to a greater extent than placebo only at 100% W_PEAK (P < 0.02). Ratings of abdominal discomfort and gut fullness were mild but higher for NaHCO₃. NaHCO₃ ingestion significantly improves continuous constant load cycling at 100% W_PEAK due to, in part, attenuation of RPE_L.     

“It's Cheesy When They Smile

Building on previous research in which we provided an opportunity for female college athletes to construct their own photographic portrayals, this study explored young female athletes' perceptions of the college athlete photographs. Fifty-two girls participated in focus group interviews where they viewed and discussed the images. The young athletes particularly liked images they perceived to show authentic athletes (e.g., in athletic settings, with appropriate sport attire), images they could relate to due to personal experiences, and images that reflected competent and passionate sportswomen. Images perceived as revealing a lack of motivation, poor sporting attitudes, and nonathletic poses generally were disliked. Images depicting multiple social identities (e.g., an athlete in a dress) were controversial and generated much discussion.