The validity and value of peer assessment using adaptive comparative judgement in design driven practical education

This paper presents the response of the technology teacher education programmes at the University of Limerick to the assessment challenge created by the shift in philosophy of the Irish national curriculum from a craft-based focus to design-driven education. This study observes two first year modules of the undergraduate programmes that focused on the development of subject knowledge and practical craft skills. Broadening the educational experience and perspective of students to include design based aptitudes demanded a clear aligning of educational approaches with learning outcomes. As design is a complex iterative learning process it requires a dynamic assessment tool to facilitate and capture the process. Considering the critical role of assessment in the learning process, the study explored the relevance of individual student-defined assessment criteria and the validity of holistic professional judgement in assessing capability within a design activity. The kernel of the paper centres on the capacity of assessment criteria to change in response to how students align their work with evidence of capability. The approach also supported peer assessment, where student-generated performance ranks provided an insight into not only how effectively they evidenced capability but also to what extent their peers valued it. The study investigated the performance of 137 undergraduate teachers during an activity focusing on the development of design, processing and craft skills. The study validates the use of adaptive comparative judgement as a model of assessment by identifying a moderate to strong relationship with performance scores obtained by two different methods of assessment. The findings also present evidence of capability beyond the traditional measures. Level of engagement, diversity, and problem solving were also identified as significant results of the approach taken. The strength of this paper centres on the capacity of student-defined criterion assessment to evidence learning, and concludes by presenting a valid and reliable holistic assessment supported by comparative judgements.     

Evolving project e-scape for national assessment

In the opening paper in this Special Edition I outlined the major issues that led to the establishment of project e-scape. The project was intended to develop systems and approaches that enabled learners to build real-time web-based portfolios of their performance (initially) in design & technology and additionally to build systems and approaches to facilitate the web-based assessment of those portfolios. The project was commissioned by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) with additional ‘buy-in’ from Awarding Bodies—who were seen by QCA as the leading beneficiaries of a successful project. The project was designed in three phases. I have outlined—in the Introduction to this Special Edition—the early exploratory work that we undertook within phase 1, the aim of which was to prove the viability of the concept. This was achieved, and QCA then commissioned phase 2 with a brief to build a working prototype system and run it through a national pilot-testing programme in 2006. Age 15 was the target age-group, aligning as closely as we could with the Awarding Body requirements for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) that runs with age 16 learners. The successes of the phase 2 prototype—both as classroom activity and as reliable assessment—led QCA and Becta (the body responsible for funding ICT developments in schools) to commission phase 3 in which we explored the potential of the e-scape system for wider application. Specifically, we were required to demonstrate the transferability of the system to other curriculum areas beyond design & technology, and the scalability of the system if it were to be used for national assessment purposes, with hundreds of thousands of candidates. In this paper, I outline the approach that we adopted through the e-scape research; describe the major elements of the work both in terms of classroom/curriculum practice and in terms of new approaches to assessment; and analyse some of the key issues that arise from it.     

Examining the reliability of Adaptive Comparative Judgement (ACJ) as an assessment tool in educational settings

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - Conventional approaches to assessment involve teachers and examiners judging the quality of learners work by reference to lists of...     

桥梁加固设计方案的技术经济评价研究

桥梁加固设计方案的选择既是一个技术问题,更是一个经济问题,目前还没有较为成熟和系统的方法。运用工程经济学的基本原理,对既有桥梁加固在其寿命周期内可能产生的各项费用进行了详细的对比分析,建立了桥梁技术改造的经济分析比选模型,提出了基于寿命周期成本的桥梁加固的经济评价方法。列举实例说明方案比选过程,由计算结果可知该方法能较准确地反映桥梁加固工程的经济效果,能够为既有桥梁改造方案的合理选择提供参考。     

政府投资项目评审中可靠性研究

随着近年我国政府投资项目的增加,不仅评审工作量增加,评审质量也成为国人关注的重点。文章力图借鉴国内外政府投资项目监管与评审的经验,建立一种用于检查咨询单位编制的项目各阶段经济文件的可靠性、评价评审机构出具的评审结论的可靠性的分析方法,以便提高评审效率,为政府投资决策提供依据。     

A framework for needs assessment in communications development

One purpose of a needs assessment is to help societies identify, plan for, and be responsive to the needs of its citizens in the areas of broadcasting, telecommunications, print media, postal services, data processing, etc. Two criteria for the guidance of needs assessments are proposed: according to distributional requirements, and also according to production and consumption of information needs. This article treats needs assessment as a four-phased process that begins with a comprehensive profile of a country's needs, policy objectives and priorities, then refines this through more detailed definition in terms of development sectors, and specific programmes and projects.     

中美财务公司的对比分析

本文对中美两国财务公司的经营环境、业务范围进行了对比分析。分析结果表明,财务公司对于企业集团的发展有着不可替代的作用,中国财务公司的业务范围还需要进一步拓宽。     

中国农村工业园区政策的演变和提示

工业化是传统经济转向现代经济的必由之路,是发展中国家孜孜以求的目标。农村工业化是促进农村经济增长的强大动力,同时在工业化过程中城市与农村是相互依赖的。农村工业化是工业化的重要内容。农村工业作为整个工业体系的重要组成部分,可以与城市工业相互补充、相互促进、共同推动工业化的发展。农村工业的发展,有利于为城市工业提供劳动力、场地、资金等条件,有利于城市工业的产品扩散和产业转移,有利于城市工业向高新技术产业领域发展,促进城乡产业结构的合理化。文章研究了中国农村工业化政策的意义,并对其在发展过程中起到重要影响的体制因素进行了分析。     

投资项目财务评价内部收益率的比较研究

投资项目财务评价是可行性研究报告的核心内容之一,而内部收益率是判断项目财务可行性和预期盈利能力的主要指标。从内部收益率的经济含义入手,分析了项目投资内部收益率、项目资本金内部收益率和投资各方内部收益率3类内部收益率的适用条件和数量关系,认为项目投资内部收益率是项目融资前决策的首选指标,且只需计算所得税前指标;资本金内部收益率是项目融资决策分析的主要指标,当项目投资内部收益率大于银行利率时,资本金内部收益率大于项目投资内部收益率;当各股东（投资方）同股非同权或存在股权之外的收益分配时,需要计算投资各方内部收益率。     

A process-based assessment framework for technology education: a case study

Over the past few years, educators in South Africa have been subjected to many changes in the educational sphere. Not only was a new approach to education, namely outcomes-based education (OBE) implemented, but the curriculum was also changed and now consists of eight learning areas, some of which are groupings of traditional school subjects (e.g. languages). Technology, however, is a new and for most educators unfamiliar learning area. The implementation in 1998 of the technology learning area in South African schools had educators reeling as they were unprepared and untrained to facilitate this new learning area. There was also limited information available for the assessment of learners in technology. Learners’ competence in technology education should be assessed in a meaningful and responsible manner, which requires more than just the evaluation of the end product. The purpose of this research was to develop a process-based assessment framework to support the technology teacher with assessment activities, which incorporate the technological process and provide opportunities for the assessment of aspects of the thinking sub-processes as part of the technological process. Qualitative action research was undertaken. Three Grade 7 learners and a teacher at a parallel medium primary school (school where two official languages are used congruently as medium of instruction) were involved in the case study. Resource, case study and a capability task were done by the three learners. For the purpose of the research project, information obtained from the capability task was used. This research focused on the initial idea generation stage (stage five) of the technological process, as well as creative and critical thinking (as thinking sub-processes) processes. Observation and semi-structured interviews were used as data-collection methods. The validity and reliability of the research were ensured by means of triangulation. Three main categories (findings) were named as aspects which could be employed when compiling a process-based assessment framework, namely outcomes, content and assessment methodology. Further subcategories were identified within each of these main categories. The framework will serve as a roadmap to technology teachers, especially those with little or no pedagogical knowledge in technology to assist them to base their assessment on sound methodology.     

Using MBTI for the success assessment of engineering teams in project-based learning

Project-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching and learning methodology that emphasizes student centered instruction by assigning projects. The students have to conduct significant projects and cope with realistic working conditions and scenarios. PBL is generally done by groups of students working together towards a common goal. Several factors play a significant role on the final success of each group. It is not only the technical aspects that have an influence on their final achievements, but also the human aspects and group dynamics. These dynamics can be studied through personality assessments, the Myers-Brigss Type Indicator (MBTI) being one of the most used and well-known methods. The MBTI is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Although MBTI strictly speaking just only identifies a personality type of an individual, it taps into key aspects of personality and behavior in areas such as communication, problem solving, decision making, and interpersonal relations. Several studies have also related MBTI profiles with leadership styles. The MBTI also helps in understanding group dynamics, analyzing shortcomings in an individual’s style and how the style affects the group as a whole. MBTI has been widely used in Team Building, Conflict Resolutions, Communication Skills and Understanding. The purpose of this work is to study how different combinations of student profiles could explain different group dynamics and at the same time, to predict the final success in a group. Knowing more about the personality of the team members, their leadership styles and how different personalities get along or conflict with each other can be useful information for building successful PBL groups. To this purpose, the final results of eight different student groups are analyzed, studying the influence of the MBTI profiles of their members with the group success. The final results obtained in this study suggest that the leadership style associated with the profile of the student playing the role of group coordinator and the members’ profile combinations have an influence on the group’s success.     

Social assessment of technology: some clarifications and areas for future research

Most of the literature on Technology Assessment has concerned its methodological aspects. Our current research work is oriented towards organizational aspects of the process of T.A., and to the ways it can be implemented in different institutional environments. This paper enquires a little further into the meaning and implications of the idea of T.A., spelling out its main distinctive features; the process of Social Assessment of Technology is considered as part of the Planning process; then, a conceptual framework, namely the systems approach, is proposed for helping the understanding of the social process dealt with. A general, critical survey of current research trends and unresolved issues in the field is done, to conclude with some suggestions for new research work in this area.     

The design of an integrated group decision support system for technology assessment

Responding to the challenges of the marketplace compels firms to employ new production methods to improve product quality and delivery reliability, to reduce costs, and above all, to achieve greater flexibility. This paper outlines the system design of a group decision support system, developed to guide management through the process of new technology evaluation and adoption. The advantages of the proposed architecture include the opportunity to integrate a variety of independently developed components, the localisation of components (which leads to simplified maintenance) and the flexibility in the future for expanding and modifying the system.     

Leadership research in Asia: A brief assessment and suggestions for the future

The main purpose of this essay is to discuss fundamental issues regarding future research on leadership in Asia. In order to meaningfully introduce these issues, I begin with an overview of leadership research in Asia, briefly covering some of the similarities and differences between Asian and Western leadership approaches. Throughout the essay, I rely chiefly on China as an example. I stress that instead of developing theories and measures unique to specific countries, such as China, the focus should be on the identification of moderators that explain relationships between leadership and both its antecedents and outcomes. I further argue that for such an approach to be viable, future scale development efforts should include respondents from multiple cultural contexts so that relatively universal boundary conditions/domains can be identified. I further contend that assessing differences between countries, such as China compared to Western countries, will be most beneficial if cross-level research designs and analyses are employed.     

水利水电工程施工质量评定工作的几点体会

依据实践经验,对执行《水利水电基本建设工程单元工程质量等级评定标准》、《堤防工程施工质量评定与验收规程》等有关施工质量评定规范中的问题进行了分析,阐述了作者的实际做法。