The experience of introducing secure e-assessment in a South African university first-year foundational ICT networking course

This article illustrates the experience of introducing e-assessment to a foundational ICT networking course for a ‘large’ group of first-year students at a South African Higher Education Institution. The study employed a mix of participatory action research, systems design, and survey (quantitative and qualitative) analysis over an academic year across two semesters. Although much research has been conducted on teaching in ICT, the purposeful pedagogical use of electronic assessment is limited. The results provide insight into the need for ‘extending’ the scholarship of teaching and learning to the scholarship of teaching, learning and assessment. While the research has some limitations in longitudinal and comparison studies, it is useful to students, teaching instructors, lecturers and administrators as it provides key thoughts as guidelines for introducing and using e-assessments as platforms for active learning, and as a basis for future research into the use of e-assessment for high-stake summative assessment.     

Detecting Instruction Effects—Deciding Between Covariance Analytical and Change-Score Approach

Educational Psychology Review - The article focuses on estimating effects in nonrandomized studies with two outcome measurement occasions and one predictor variable. Given such a design, the...     

Social, ethical and technical issues in informatics—An integrated approach

This paper outlines a didactic approach for computer science courses based on the concept of socio-technical Informatics Systems, demonstrating the linkage between computational issues and their manifold social contexts as well as their close relation to social and ethical issues. The analysis of the product–process relationship of software development as a major element of the construction of Informatics Systems leads to the identification of important criteria for designing computer science courses. The selection of application areas as context types, of educational lenses, of methods and of media enables an integrated teaching approach. This kind of integrated approach offers an holistic approach to technical and societal aspects of an Informatics System in computer science education.     

Developing the High School's Guidance Network to Cater for Students with Special Needs

A sample of guidance coordinators in New Zealand secondary schools were surveyed to ascertain the operation of guidance networks in catering for students with special needs. Information was obtained on the composition and role function of the network, changes over time, satisfactions and dissatisfactions. Findings indicate that the current emphasis on mainstreaming is aided by the presence of a strong guidance network which collaborates closely in decision‐making and program oversight. The guidance counsellor's role is one of crucial facilitator of management processes, as well as counselling specialist. Effectiveness of functioning is further enhanced by flexibility in role function, close integration with school staff, and clarity of professional goal. Data from this survey need to be corroborated by independent comments from service consumers.     

Professionalisierung und Schulentwicklung

In diesem Beitrag wird dargestellt, dass in Schulentwicklungsprozessen Potentiale für eine weitere Professionalisierung des Lehrerberufs liegen. Schulentwicklung generiert einen bestimmten Handlungstyp im Sinne einer Disposition für die kooperative L?sung unvorhersehbare Problem-und Krisenlagen auf der Ebene der einzelnen Schule. Die Autoren beschreiben auf der Grundlage mehrerer von ihnen durchgeführter hermeneutischfallrekonstruktiv vorgehender Begleitforschungsprojekte zur Schulentwicklung, welche Ver?nderungen sich in Schulentwicklungs-als Unterrichtsentwicklungsprozessen für die T?tigkeit der Lehrerinnen und Lehrer ergeben, um zukunftsoffen mit Unsicherheit umgehen zu k?nnen: 1. Es findet mehr Arbeit in sogenannten Praxisgemeinschaften und Entwicklungsgruppen statt. Dieses ist eine Verst?rkung der Kommunikation über Unterricht und Lernprozesse. 2. Die prozessorientierte ziel-und inhaltsbezogene Differenzierung und Variation von Unterrichtsformen wird gesteigert. 3. Schülerrückmeldungen über eigenes Lernen und den Unterricht werden in diesen integriert. Hier bilden sich neue Kompetenzen zur Diagnose heterogener Lernst?nde und zur Differenzierung von Lernformen und Lernwegen heraus, und es kommt dabei zu einer Ausdifferenzierung von Funktionsbereichen in der Lehrert?tigkeit.     

The policy-implementation-results linkage for education development and aid effectiveness in the Education 2030 era

Education 2030, the new global agenda for educational development, emphasises inclusion and learning outcomes. The top-down programme-based approach, a mainstay of international aid, has up to now failed in helping developing countries to meet these objectives because it tends to overlook where the link is broken between policy implementation from the ‘top’ and results ‘on the ground’. Conversely, those on the ground tackling the learning more directly do not seem to have sufficient capacity to use their experiences to inform institutional and systemic reforms, from the bottom up, as it were. The link between policy, its implementation and the results on the ground could be established through strengthened dialogue between these two approaches. Tapping into the existing knowledge and experience on teaching and learning while at the same time addressing institutional and systemic concerns would be instrumental in facilitating interaction between these two facets of international aid.