Aiming for autonomy: formative peer assessment in a final-year undergraduate course

This article takes a dual focus on the theme of student formative peer assessment. On the one hand it offers a thorough literature review in this field, while on the other it unpacks a case study of curriculum design where peer assessment has been adopted. The practical example draws on recent changes made to a third- and final-year undergraduate research dissertation course in a UK architectural school. Although peer assessment worked quite well in this small setting, similar findings might be uncovered when scaled up to larger cohorts, as well as other disciplines and year groups. The research findings are certainly relevant for other contexts. Qualitative research from a focus group with six students on the course informs the empirical body of the paper. Through engaging with students’ reflections, as well as the relevant literature, and reflexively looking at the curriculum changes, this paper discusses some of the benefits and drawbacks that can arise from peer assessment in this context. Peer assessment is not without its challenges and hiccups, but, despite these, the benefit to autonomous critical thinking cannot be understated. And arguably peer assessment is especially germane for final-year undergraduates as they embark on employment or more advanced studies.     

Peer victimization,deviant peer affiliation and impulsivity: Predicting adolescent problem behaviors

Abundant evidence has demonstrated an association between peer victimization and adolescent problem behaviors. However, there is a large gap in knowledge about the potential mediators that associate peer victimization with problem behaviors and the potential moderators that exacerbate or buffer this association. The current study examined whether deviant peer affiliation mediated the association between peer victimization and problem behaviors and whether the direct and indirect associations were moderated by impulsivity. A sample of 1401 adolescents (50.1% boys, 11–14 years old) completed anonymous questionnaires regarding peer victimization, impulsivity, deviant peer affiliation, and problem behaviors. Gender, age and socioeconomic status (SES) were controlled for in the analyses. Structural equation models showed that peer victimization was significantly associated with more problem behaviors, and this association was mediated by deviant peer affiliation. Impulsivity moderated both the direct association (peer victimization → problem behaviors) and the second stage of the indirect path (deviant peer affiliation → problem behaviors). Specifically, these associations were especially stronger for adolescents with higher impulsivity. Identifying the processes by which peer victimization is associated with adolescent problem behaviors has important implications for an integrative framework of theory and prevention.     

编辑应能协调作者与审稿专家的不同意见

从作者、审稿专家和编辑三者关系入手,分析三者的态度对论文取舍的决定性作用.将评审专家意见进行分类,并根据作者修改论文时对专家意见的不同回应态度,分析、总结其对论文的审稿结果所带来的影响.为此提出编辑的应对策略,并以一实例进行验证.认为编辑的正确应对既能平衡作者与审稿专家之间的分歧,又能提升作者的论文撰写能力.这为提高科技期刊的影响力,进一步吸引到更多、更高水平的论文打下基础.     

学术论文同行评审:过去·现状·未来

研究同行评审制度有助于审视学术交流与出版过程,以检验对学术成果的审查和管理工作的合理性,包括评审结果的正确性和评审方法的公平性,并进而为同行评审制度的发展和完善提供参考依据.文章简要介绍同行评审的发展历程,阐述并探讨学术论文同行评审的作用以及存在和面临的问题,并分析同行评审的发展趋势.     

A comparison of well-peer mentored and non-peer mentored athletes’ perceptions of satisfaction

The purpose of the present study was to compare well-peer mentored and non-peer mentored athletes’ perceptions of satisfaction. A total of 444 intercollegiate athletes (272 well-peer mentored and 172 non-peer mentored) from a variety of sport teams participated in the study. Athletes from both well-peer mentored and non-peer mentored groups reported their satisfaction levels using the Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire. The results of a MANOVA and follow-up post hoc ANOVAs showed that well-peer mentored athletes were significantly more satisfied than their non-peer mentored counterparts in terms of individual performance, personal dedication, team task contribution, team social contribution, team integration, ethics, ability utilisation and training and instruction. Overall, the findings suggest that athletes who are well-peer mentored by a teammate perceive higher satisfaction levels with various aspects of their athletic experience than athletes who are not peer mentored by a teammate. Given these positive findings, practitioners (i.e., coaches, sport psychology consultants) should inform athletes on the benefits of peer-to-peer mentoring. The practical implications of the results and strategies to promote peer athlete mentoring relationships in sport are highlighted.     

Voices of teacher candidates of color on white race evasion: ‘I worried about my safety!’

Abstract

This qualitative study investigated the negative impacts minority teacher candidates receive from white teacher candidates in a required multicultural education class. The findings reveal that four teacher candidates of color had difficulty positioning themselves among the overwhelming silencing power of whiteness in the class. The white students were tactful at evading power and race and flattening the existing hierarchical power relations through the discourses of colorblindness and by preying on the minority instructor. Their understanding of diversity was also shallow. On the other hand, the teacher candidates of color were afraid that they might be labeled as the ones who spoke up against the white students and fearful of the possibility of retaliation and ostracism from the white peers. It seems that the teacher education program’s structure allowed the white candidates to impose strong negative peer pressure on the teacher candidates of color.     

Hybrid ants-like search algorithms for P2P media streaming distribution in ad hoc networks

Media streaming delivery in wireless ad hoc networks is challenging due to the stringent resource restrictions,po-tential high loss rate and the decentralized architecture. To support long and high-quality streams,one viable approach is that a media stream is partitioned into segments,and then the segments are replicated in a network and served in a peer-to-peer(P2P) fashion. However,the searching strategy for segments is one key problem with the approach. This paper proposes a hybrid ants-like search algorithm(HASA) for P2P media streaming distribution in ad hoc networks. It takes the advantages of random walks and ants-like algorithms for searching in unstructured P2P networks,such as low transmitting latency,less jitter times,and low unnecessary traffic. We quantify the performance of our scheme in terms of response time,jitter times,and network messages for media streaming distribution. Simulation results showed that it can effectively improve the search efficiency for P2P media streaming distribution in ad hoc networks.     

An empirical review of anonymity effects in peer assessment,peer feedback,peer review,peer evaluation and peer grading

Abstract

Peer assessment has proven to have positive learning outcomes. Importantly, peer assessment is a social process and some claim that the use of anonymity might have advantages. However, the findings have not always been in the same direction. Our aims were: (a) to review the effects of using anonymity in peer assessment on performance, peer feedback content, peer grading accuracy, social effects and students’ perspective on peer assessment; and (b) to investigate the effects of four moderating variables (educational level, peer grading, assessment aids, direction of anonymity) in relation to anonymity. A literature search was conducted including five different terms related to peer assessment (e.g., peer feedback) and anonymity. Fourteen studies that used a control group or a within group design were found. The narrative review revealed that anonymous peer assessment seems to provide advantages for students’ perceptions about the learning value of peer assessment, delivering more critical peer feedback, increased self-perceived social effects, a slight tendency for more performance, especially in higher education and with less peer assessment aids. Some conclusions are that: (a) when implementing anonymity in peer assessment the instructional context and goals need to be considered, (b) existent empirical research is still limited, and (c) future research should employ stronger and more complex research designs.     

Paired peer learning through engineering education outreach

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate education incorporating active learning and vicarious experience through education outreach presents a critical opportunity to influence future engineering teaching and practice capabilities. Engineering education outreach activities have been shown to have multiple benefits; increasing interest and engagement with science and engineering for school children, providing teachers with expert contributions to engineering subject knowledge, and developing professional generic skills for engineers such as communication and teamwork. This pilot intervention paired 10 pre-service teachers and 11 student engineers to enact engineering outreach in primary schools, reaching 269 children. A longitudinal mixed methods design was employed to measure change in attitudes and Education Outreach Self-Efficacy in student engineers; alongside attitudes, Teaching Engineering Self-Efficacy and Engineering Subject Knowledge Confidence in pre-service teachers. Highly significant improvements were noted in the pre-service teachers’ confidence and self-efficacy, while both the teachers and engineers qualitatively described benefits arising from the paired peer mentor model.     

Peer facilitated writing groups: a programmatic approach to doctoral student writing

Very few empirical studies have investigated programmes in which doctoral students act as peer facilitators in faculty writing groups. We report on the development of a centrally delivered doctoral student writing programme in which twenty student participants were mentored and provided with the resources to initiate their own faculty-based doctoral writing groups. ‘Legitimate peripheral participation’ was used as a conceptual lens to interpret the data collected during the establishment and evaluation of the programme. All student participants in the preparatory training course, which was developed in consultation with postgraduate students and research supervisors, went on to become doctoral writing peer facilitators of peer writing groups. Insights from seven of these showed how a well-structured and supportive programme harnessed the benefits of peer learning by bringing personal rewards to participants and building institutional capacity around doctoral research writing literacies.