Threats to the professional understanding of assessment error

A case study investigation was undertaken to identify threats to the professional understanding of assessment error which arise from accounts presented within the education press. Through a predominantly qualitative analysis of articles published in a leading education newspaper, during 2002 and 2003, it explored how assessment agencies in England were represented as responding to allegations of error. A number of threats to professional understanding were identified; in particular, the overarching threat that media reports may help to construct, and to maintain, a mythical image of assessment as a process which can and ought to be free from both measurement inaccuracy and human error. The results highlighted an underlying tension between the need to increase public understanding (of assessment error) and the need to retain public confidence (in our assessment systems). It was concluded that assessment agencies need to develop approaches to enhancing the public and professional understanding of assessment error, to counteract potentially misleading images from media reports.     

How Promotional Content Changes Ratings: The Impact of Appeals, Humor, and Presentation

This study assessed the impact of content--as opposed to structural--factors on television program ratings, seeking to locate clusters of components that would identify effective on-air promotion and allocate content a better-defined place within theoretic models of media priming. Stepwise multiple regression analyses of 1,547 on-air promos for 155 prime-time programs demonstrated that 5-9% of ratings variance was accounted for by content appeals, humor, and presentation in promos for comedy programs. The influence of content variables was greater for familiar than unfamiliar comedies, and humor and presentation in promos contributed to variance in ratings for mid-rated but not high- or low-rated comedies.     

Analyzing the teaching of advanced mathematics courses via the enacted example space

Examples are believed to be very important in developing conceptual understanding of mathematical ideas, useful both in mathematics research and instruction (Bills & Watson in Educational Studies in Mathematics 69:77–79, 2008; Mason & Watson, 2008; Bills & Tall, 1998; Tall & Vinner, 1981). In this study, we draw on the concept of an example space (Mason & Watson, 2008) and variation theory (Runesson in Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 50:397–410, 2006) to create a lens to study how examples are used for pedagogical purposes in undergraduate proof-based instruction. We adapted the construct of an example space and extended its application to the constructs of example neighborhood, methods of example construction, and the functions of examples. We explained how to use our new lens to analyze the collection of examples and non-examples that the students had access to. We then demonstrate our method by analyzing the collection of examples and non-examples of a mathematical group the professor of an abstract algebra class presented during lectures or assigned to students in problem sets or exams.     

Use of Lecture Capture in Higher Education - Lessons from the Trenches

Lecture capture, defined here as the capturing of some or all elements of a live lecture in digital format, is becoming increasingly popular in higher education. Despite this increase in popularity, fewer than 10% of institutes of higher education globally have adopted comprehensive lecture capture systems. So, the majority of instructors wanting to use lecture capture technology will find themselves having to acquire their own technology and do the capture themselves. There are several factors that influence the use of lecture capture, including the instructor’s level of comfort with technology, their budget, and the context in which they will be using the tool. Using case studies of our own experiences, we hope to illustrate a variety of ways in which lecture capture can be appropriately used in higher education in this way. Following this, we outline several challenges that we faced and provide recommendations for how to overcome these. Lastly, we describe some issues that should be considered and addressed before getting started using lecture capture technology in a way that is customized to suit the needs of both professor and student. We hope that by following the guidelines outlined in this paper, and by seeing practical examples of how lecture capture can be used in a variety of contexts, the transition from idea to implementation will be an easier one.     

Transforming the twenty-first-century campus to enhance the net-generation student learning experience: using evidence-based design to determine what works and why in virtual/physical teaching spaces

The twenty-first century has seen the rapid emergence of wireless broadband and mobile communications devices which are inexorably changing the way people communicate, collaborate, create and transfer knowledge. Yet many higher education campus learning environments were designed and built in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries prior to wireless broadband networks. Now, new learning environments are being re-engineered to meet these emerging technologies with significant challenges to existing pedagogical practices. However, these next generation learning environments (NGLEs) have not been evaluated thoroughly to see if they actually work as they are scaled up across the higher education system. Whilst there have been a range of NGLEs designed globally – with Australia leading in the past five years or so – it is timely that a more rigorous research methodology drawing from health facility evidence-based design is taken to evaluate their effectiveness in improving the student experience and learning outcomes.     

The relation between morphological awareness and reading and spelling in Greek: a longitudinal study

The aim of this longitudinal study is to examine the contribution of morphological awareness to the prediction of reading and spelling in Greek. The target group (N = 404) consisted of children, aged 6–9 years at the start of the project, who learn literacy in Cyprus. Because there are no standardized measures of morphological awareness for Greek Cypriot children, morphological awareness measures were developed and validated. A concurrent analysis of the first wave of data collection showed that morphological awareness made a unique contribution to the prediction of reading and spelling in Greek. The longitudinal analyses showed that morphological awareness predicted performance in reading eight months later, even after partialling out grade level, verbal intelligence, phonological awareness and initial scores in reading and spelling. This study makes theoretical, empirical and practical educational contributions. It shows the long term and specific relation of morphological awareness with reading in Greek and establishes the plausibility of a causal link between morphological awareness and reading, which must be tested in further research using intervention methods. In practice, this study contributes valid measures for assessing morphological awareness in Greek as well as a new measure of spelling skill.     

Children's perceptions of plants following their visit to the Eden Project

The study described is part of a larger research programme designed to investigate primary aged children's learning during a visit to the Eden Project. Children from eight primary schools were interviewed approximately four weeks after a one‐day, teacher‐led visit to the Eden Project (EP) in Cornwall. Their responses revealed that the children enjoyed their visit to the EP and were affected by the sensory experience of being immersed in such a profusion of plants from around the world. The children showed interest in the plants that were relevant to their lives but were often unsure of the relationship between plants, people and resources. The analysis highlights the need for teachers to integrate a visit to the EP within their school's curriculum, particularly in respect of prior preparation and mediation, in order to capitalize effectively on the children's experiences during their visit to the Eden Project.     

Assessing the creativity of scientific explanations in elementary science: an insider–outsider view of intuitive assessment in the hypothesis space

Assessing creativity is commonly believed to be difficult but there is evidence that an intuitive, holistic assessment is easy and reliable. Given that children can engage in creative activity and teachers are expected to foster it, some assessment of it could aid planning and optimise support. Assessing creativity intuitively and holistically could be a useful, quick way of assessing to inform teaching. A teacher of young children, however, is essentially an outsider in the child’s world and often also in the world of science. Judging a child’s creativity in this way from a child’s point of view may not always be easy or reliable. Here, pre‐service elementary teachers in the UK assessed explanations of simple science events. Their holistic assessments of creativity did not agree to any great extent. Agreement improved when they assessed some of the attributes of creativity but was still less than expected. Nevertheless, these novices’ assessments as a whole showed there was some ability to discriminate usefully between explanations, albeit with considerable variation from teacher to teacher. Some implications for teacher training are described.     

COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT ATTRACTION TO AN ENGLISH COURSE: THE ASSOCIATIONS AMONG STUDENT GENDER,THE GENDER OF THE AUTHOR OF ASSIGNED READING,AND THE STYLE OF READING

This article reports the results of a factorial experiment that investigated the reactions of male and female students to a hypothetical English course offered at the community college level. The participants (N = 136) consisted of students enrolled in English 101 courses at four community colleges in a southeastern state. The independent variables were gender of the student, gender of the author assigned, and the type of reading assigned (narrative, expository). The dependent variable was a composite rating of student attraction to the English course. Females rated the course more favorably than males, and testing detected an interaction effect between gender of the student and the gender of the writer. Females preferred female authors, and males were attracted to male authors. There also was an interaction effect between gender of the author and style of writing. Participants preferred female authors and expository style. The findings have practical implications for educational programs, English instructors, and future research.