The Multiple‐Use of Accountability Assessments: Implications for the Process of Validation

Implications of the multiple‐use of accountability assessments for the process of validation are examined. Multiple‐use refers to the simultaneous use of results from a single administration of an assessment for its intended use and for one or more additional uses. A theoretical discussion of the issues for validation which emerge from multiple‐use is provided focusing on the increased stakes that result from multiple‐use and the need to consider the interactions that may take place between multiple‐uses. To further explore this practice, an empirical study of the multiple‐use of the Education Quality and Accountability Office Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics, a mandatory assessment administered in Ontario, Canada, is presented. Drawing on data gathered in an in‐depth case study, practices associated with two of the multiple‐uses of this assessment are considered and evidence of ways these two uses interact is presented. Given these interactions, the limitations of an argument‐based approach to validation for this instance of multiple‐use are demonstrated. Some ways that the process of validation might better address the practice of multiple‐use are suggested and areas for further investigation of this frequently occurring practice are discussed.     

Interoperable community platforms and identity management in the university domain

Abstract

Community support systems (community platforms) that are providing a rich communication medium for work‐ or interest groups are gaining more and more attention in application areas ranging from leisure support and customer support to ‘knowledge management. One of these application areas is the support of teaching and research activities in universities. In this article we first identify possibilities for community platforms in universities and present some applications at Technische Universität München (TUM). From the current situation at TUM we motivate that a key feature of future community platforms has to be interoperability, and concentrate on how to provide interoperability in general, and how we are doing it in the environment at TUM. In particular we focus on service independent identity management as one central aspect of interoperability.     

When easy comes hard: the development of adaptive strategy selection

Can children learn to select the right strategy for a given problem? In one experiment, 9‐ to 10‐year‐olds (N = 50), 11‐ to 12‐year‐olds (N = 50), and adults (N = 50) made probabilistic inferences. Participants encountered environments favoring either an information‐intensive strategy that integrates all available information or an information‐frugal strategy that relies only on the most valid pieces of information. Nine‐ to 10‐year‐olds but not older children or adults had more difficulties learning to select an information‐frugal strategy than an information‐intensive strategy. This counterintuitive finding is explained by children’s less developed ability to selectively attend to relevant information, an ability that seems to develop during late childhood. The results suggest that whether a strategy can be considered “easy” depends on the development of specific cognitive abilities.     

Eckpunkte des Universitätsrechts-Änderungsgesetzes 2009 (Teil 2)

In Abkehr von ihrer Einrichtung als auf demokratischer Partizipation basierender Bundesdienststelle nach UOG, wurden die staatlichen Universit?ten ab dem UOG 1993 zunehmend in Richtung eigenverantwortlicher "Bildungsbetriebe" umgebaut. Diese auf Deregulierung und Dezentralisierung universit?rer Handlungsparameter abstellende Entwicklung fand ihren vorl?ufigen H?hepunkt in der Umwandlung der Universit?ten in vollrechtsf?hige juristische Personen durch das UG (2002). Die aufrechte Funktion des Staates als Erhalter und insb Financier der Universit?ten hat zu einem auf universit?re Leistung und Verantwortung gegründeten Beziehungssystem zwischen Staat, Gesellschaft und Universit?ten geführt, das auch mit Rechtsunsicherheiten und Friktionen behaftet ist. Der bisher letzte Schritt in Richtung des intendierten umfassenden "Kulturwandels" der Universit?ten wurde mit dem Universit?tsrechts-?nderungsgesetz 2009 getan, das eine umfassende Novellierung der bisher geltenden Rechtslage beinhaltet.     

Scholarly Communities at the Crossroads: Internationalizing Sociological Networks in Valparaíso,Chile (2003–2019)

Minerva - Achievements and tensions derived from the internationalization of national scholarly communities have attracted extensive attention. However, very little is hitherto known about the...