Towards the improvement of the student experience of assessment and feedback in construction management education

It is widely accepted across Higher Education that assessment practices have a link with learning and a key factor in this link is formative assessment. Formative assessment is generally defined as taking place during a module/programme with the express purpose of improving and enhancing student learning. It is important to understand how lecturers in construction engineering education perceive their own roles and the roles of their students in using effective assessment strategies. An investigation into lecturers’ perceptions of their roles and their conceptions related to the assessment process of students in those programmes is reported. An on-line survey was conducted with over 30 Irish academics involved in the area of construction management. Discussion is focused on a critical evaluation of the findings of the study and how it relates to the current literature on the roles of academics in the formative assessment process. Recommendations are made on how lecturers/teachers might better formulate appropriate assessment strategies that will encourage deep and effective learning.     

A MODULAR COURSE APPROACH TO IN‐SERVICE AND PRE‐SERVICE TRAINING IN GERONTOLOGY

In order to meet both in‐service and pre‐service training needs in gerontology, North Country Community College has developed an innovative one‐year certificate program. Under the assumption that persons working with the aged in a rural area must have a diverse group of skills to draw upon, the gerontology certificate stresses course work in: communication skills, culture variability, gerontology knowledge, management skills, and service skills. The curriculum approach taken is that of competency based education, with most of the skills courses put into a modular course format. After the first year of the certificate, 53% (N = 65) of the students in the certificate courses are adults or community professionals turning to this community college program to upgrade skills or acquire new ones. This certificate is beginning to meet the training needs in a rural area that were only previously addressed by occasional workshops for the human service practitioner.     

Animals,Governance and Ecology: Managing the Menace of Venomous Snakes in Colonial India

During the nineteenth century, the British Raj launched a campaign to reduce the number of people killed annually by venomous snakes on the Indian subcontinent. Unlike its successful effort to cull large mammals, the colonial government was forced to abolish its bounty scheme in 1890 and instead seek to use sanitation to reduce interactions between humans and snakes. This article will assess this transition in policy as a means to understand how attitudes towards the governance of animals were shaped by cultural and ecological factors. It will be shown that during its inception, discourses of scientific governance statistically augmented perceptions of the threat posed by snakes, presenting them as a direct yet manageable danger within an anthropocentric cultural model. However, financial and practical limitations forced the government to recognise that the behaviour, seasonal patterns and territorial movements of snakes influenced the rate of mortality, and thus adjust its policy to acknowledge the experience of cohabitation in India’s diverse ecological contexts.     

Biology Undergraduates' Misconceptions about Genetic Drift

This study explores biology undergraduates' misconceptions about genetic drift. We use qualitative and quantitative methods to describe students' definitions, identify common misconceptions, and examine differences before and after instruction on genetic drift. We identify and describe five overarching categories that include 16 distinct misconceptions about genetic drift. The accuracy of students' conceptions ranges considerably, from responses indicating only superficial, if any, knowledge of any aspect of evolution to responses indicating knowledge of genetic drift but confusion about the nuances of genetic drift. After instruction, a significantly greater number of responses indicate some knowledge of genetic drift (p = 0.005), but 74.6% of responses still contain at least one misconception. We conclude by presenting a framework that organizes how students' conceptions of genetic drift change with instruction. We also articulate three hypotheses regarding undergraduates' conceptions of evolution in general and genetic drift in particular. We propose that: 1) students begin with undeveloped conceptions of evolution that do not recognize different mechanisms of change; 2) students develop more complex, but still inaccurate, conceptual frameworks that reflect experience with vocabulary but still lack deep understanding; and 3) some new misconceptions about genetic drift emerge as students comprehend more about evolution.     

How do we rate? An evaluation of online student evaluations

This paper analyses the popular RateMyProfessors (RMP) website where students evaluate instructors in higher education. A study was designed to measure (1) the awareness and utilisation of the RMP website, (2) the internal and external validity of the RMP ratings in measuring teaching effectiveness, and (3) variation in the above across disciplines. It is concluded that the category of ratings, created by the website, establishes an anti‐intellectual tone that manifests itself in comments about instructors’ personality, easiness of workload and entertainment value rather than knowledge attained.