Combining peer‐assessment with negotiated learning activities on a day‐release undergraduate‐level certificate course (ECTS level 3)

Peer‐assessment was used within a negotiated curriculum in a module on training and development at ECTS level 3. The students on the programme were exclusively day‐release and all had a major responsibility for the management and delivery of work‐based training programmes. Analysis of student evaluations, supplemented by those of university assessors and the external examiner, showed that the learning on the programme was transformative in that it changed the way students perceived their own abilities and their potential to make improvements in their work both as students and trainers. Peer‐assessment encouraged critical reflection, helped develop skills of autonomous learning and provided feedback that took account of individual learning needs. Weaker students benefited from the talents of their more able peers. Students planned, monitored and assessed their learning activities in a way that significantly increased motivation and raised academic standards. The learning achieved led to a transformation of personal and professional perspective on the part of the students leading to greater personal autonomy.     

The Effects of Selection Strategies for Bivariate Loglinear Smoothing Models on NEAT Equating Functions

In this study, eight statistical strategies were evaluated for selecting the parameterizations of loglinear models for smoothing the bivariate test score distributions used in nonequivalent groups with anchor test (NEAT) equating. Four of the strategies were based on significance tests of chi-square statistics (Likelihood Ratio, Pearson, Freeman-Tukey, and Cressie-Read) and four additional strategies were based on different evaluations of the Likelihood Ratio Chi-Square statistic (Akaike Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion, Consistent Akaike Information Criterion, and an index traced to Goodman). The focus was the implications of the selection strategies' selection tendencies for the accuracy of chained and poststratification equating functions. The results differentiated the strategies in terms of their tendencies to select models with particular bivariate parameterizations and the implications of these tendencies for equating bias and variability .     

Perinatal Nurses Respond to Shared Decision-Making Education: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Women describe a loss of autonomy during childbirth as a contributing factor to labor dissatisfaction. Shared decision-making with choice, option, and decision talk may improve satisfaction. Nurses (n = 29) received education on supporting women''s autonomy with a standardized communication tool (SUPPORT) to facilitate shared decision-making and create an evolving birth plan. This quasi-experimental pre-/post-test design evaluated participant responses to the education module. Participants supported the use of the SUPPORT tool for shared decision-making and developing evolving birth plans. Most recommended initiation between 13- and 26-weeks'' gestation. Nurses'' willingness to advocate for women''s autonomy increased significantly after education (p = .022). Shared decision-making with standardized perinatal communication may support a woman''s perinatal education and her satisfaction with labor.     

Determinants of sales and price at auction for three Australian Indigenous artists: to pool or not to pool?

Albert Namatjira (1902–1959), Emily Kame Kngwarreye (c1910–1996) and Rover (Julama) Thomas (c1926–1998) are three of Australia’s best-known Indigenous artists. Each is known for one style of painting—Namatjira for watercolor on paper, Kngwarreye for acrylic (synthetic polymer) on canvas and Thomas for natural earth pigments on canvas. We estimate a sample selectivity model using data from the Australian Art Sales Digest to study the determinants of sales and the hammer price of artworks offered at auction from these artists. The results show that pre-sale information on the artwork and auction effects are significant and that the three artists studied are very different from each other. Thus, data should not be pooled when estimating these models.