E‐journals: developing country access survey

Concern over the information gap between developed and developing countries has led to a number of initiatives to promote access to information, but is there a potential of overlapping and conflicting information being given to the recipients? And what are publishers' attitudes towards the supply of their content at greatly reduced prices, or for free? During 2002 INASP was commissioned to undertake a survey to identify publishers' activities and opinions in this area. The survey found that the majority of respondents were involved in one or more access programmes and there was a willingness from both the commercial and the non‐commercial sector to provide their information in this way.     

Book Reviews

Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice, 3rd edn, by F. W. Lancaster Facet Publishing 2003, 464 pp., ISBN 1‐85604‐482‐3, £39.95 Science Editors' Handbook European Association of Science Editors 2003, ISBN 0‐905988‐13‐2, £18 Digital Preservation: The Record of Science, edited by Barry Mahon and Elliot Siegel IOS Press, 2002, 143 pp., ISBN 1‐58603‐317‐4, paperback £65.00     

'No Number Can Describe How Good It Was': Assessment issues in the multimodal classroom

Within an outcomes based educational system built on the principles of redress, social justice, multilingualism and multiculturalism, issues of equity in teaching, learning and assessment are increasingly on South Africa's educational agenda. This article locates itself within debates concerning the politics of representation in mainstream classrooms, in which written standard English is the dominant mode and language through which students' meanings are read and assessed. The authors, consisting of English and Art educators, have been implementing forms of 'multimodal pedagogies' in different classrooms in Johannesburg in a move to challenge the existing narrow constraints of representation permitted in mainstream schooling. Through a case study discussion of a multimodal project with disaffected Soweto youth, the authors argue that new criteria for assessment need to be developed in order to address the complexity of thinking about communication as a multiple semiotic practice and students as designers of meaning. Such criteria place human agency and resourcefulness at the centre of meaning-making, and focus on the recruitment of resources, generativity across modes, linkages and connections across modes and genres, voicing of self, community and culture, the processes of making and reflectiveness, as well as taking account of the 'community of arbiters'.     

Perceptions of university assessment and feedback among post-16 school pupils

The transition between school and university can be problematic for students. Understanding students’ expectations about the system they are entering is crucial in effecting a smooth transition. The school system involves small classes, often with teachers who know their students well. In contrast, university involves large class sizes and a degree of anonymity for the student. In the UK, National Student Survey responses for universities show that students are generally less happy about feedback relative to most other issues. The current study investigates school students’ expectations about assessment and feedback practices at university. Students were surveyed across Great Britain in 2006 and 2013. There were some significantly different responses from students between the two years of study in how coursework would be handled, but there were also many areas of consistency, demonstrating a clear pattern of expectation. For example, in both years of study 80% of students expected personal verbal feedback on their university assignments. This study discusses how student expectations may be based on their school experiences, rather than considering the reality of the university system they are entering. Misconceptions may be affecting students’ responses to surveys on assessment and feedback.