Identifying exemplary science teachers through their students' perceptions of the assessment process
- Authors: Waldrip, Bruce , Fisher, Darrell , Dorman, Jeffrey
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Research in Science and Technology Education Vol. 27, no. 1 (2009), p. 117-129
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper reports on part of a large-scale study aimed at examining students’ perceptions of assessment. This paper will report on a study utilising mixed methodology in 150 Australian middle school classrooms. The purpose of the study described in this paper was to use the Students’ Perceptions of Assessment Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (SPAQ) to identify and describe exemplary science teachers. With a sample of over 3000 science students, the reliability of the SPAQ scales ranged from 0.62 to 0.82. The exemplary teachers were identified as those whose students’ perceptions were more than one standard deviation above the mean on three of the five scales of Congruence with planned learning, Transparency, Authenticity, Student consultation, and Diversity. The construct validity of the SPAQ to identify these exemplary teachers was confirmed through interviews with students and these views are reported in the article.
A review of cloud application assessment practices at the University of Ballarat
- Authors: Wilmott, Deirdre , Knox, Ian
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Education for Information Vol. 29, no. 3-4 (2012), p. 229-242
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: It has been suggested that traditional assessment practices in tertiary institutions tend not to equip students well for the processes of effective learning in a learning society [1]. This paper reviews alternative Internet based assessment practices used in Library, Business and Education courses at the University of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia in 2011. © 2012 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved. © 2012 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.
A review of cloud application assessment practices at the University of Ballarat
- Authors: Wilmott, Deirdre , Knox, Ian
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Education for Information Vol. 29, no. 3-4 (2012), p. 229-242
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: It has been suggested that traditional assessment practices in tertiary institutions tend not to equip students well for the processes of effective learning in a learning society [1]. This paper reviews alternative Internet based assessment practices used in Library, Business and Education courses at the University of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia in 2011.© 2012 - IOS Press and the authors
- Description: C1
Investigating spiritual well-being among Islamic Divinity and religious education students in Turkey
- Authors: Coskun, Mehmet , Fisher, John
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Religious Education Journal of Australia Vol. 29, no. 2 (2013), p. 21-28
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- Description: In light of increased emphasis on universities being called to facilitate spiritual growth among students, the Spiritual Health And Life-Orientation Measure was used to assess four domains of spiritual well-being among 122 Divinity and 137 Religious Education students in Turkey. Students provided three responses to 20 items reflecting spiritual well-being, indicating their ideals for spiritual well-being, lived experience and how much university helped in each area. Another 16 potential factors were explored to help students develop their spiritual well-being, ranging from self-improvement to scripture. High scores on ideals for spiritual well-being, reported by both groups of students, underpin the lived experiences of Religious Education and Divinity students in each of four domains of spiritual well-being. Relating with God significantly influenced aspects of spiritual well-being but it appears that the highly religious students overstate the influence of religious activities, such as prayer and scripture, on their spiritual well-being. Universities provide small yet significant support in developing the four domains of spiritual well-being for these students. Overall, this study has shown many similarities, yet some significant variations in spiritual well-being between these Divinity and Religious Education students in Turkey. This project provides a sound base from which future studies can be launched to review, enhance and monitor university students' spiritual well-being and to determine the influence of these students' spiritual well-being on the clients they will serve after graduating and gaining employment.
God counts for children's spiritual well-being
- Authors: Fisher, John
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Childrens Spirituality Vol. 20, no. 3-4 (2015), p. 191-203
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Over the last three decades, qualitative studies of children's spirituality have variously mentioned God. During this time, nearly 300 quantitative measures of spirituality and well-being have been developed and employed with youth and adults. However, very little similar work has been done with children. An article in this journal reported development of a purported spiritual sensitivity scale. That paper is critiqued here on the basis of its statistical methods as well as its failure to mention God in a study with Australian Catholic school students. In this paper, spiritual well-being (SWB) is taken as being reflected in the quality of relationships that people have with themselves, with others, with the environment and/or with God. Empirical evidence derived from extensive studies with primary school children in State, Catholic, Christian community and other independent schools in Australia reveals that an instrument called Feeling Good, Living Life is a statistically sound spirituality measure for children. Of the four sets of relationships reflecting SWB, relationship with God explains greatest variance in SWB overall. In this respect, relationship with God is most important for SWB among primary school students, just as other studies have shown it to be among youth and adults.
Narrative assessment: making mathematics learning visible in early childhood settings
- Authors: Anthony, Glenda , McLachlan, Claire , Lim , Rachel
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Mathematics Education Research Journal Vol. 27, no. 3 (2015), p. 385-400
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Narratives that capture children’s learning as they go about their day-to-day activities are promoted as a powerful assessment tool within early childhood settings. However, in the New Zealand context, there is increasing concern that learning stories—the preferred form of narrative assessment—currently downplay domain knowledge. In this paper, we draw on data from 13 teacher interviews and samples of 18 children’s learning stories to examine how mathematics is made visible within learning stories. Despite appreciating that mathematics is embedded in a range of everyday activities within the centres, we found that the nature of a particular activity appeared to influence ‘how’ and ‘what’ the teachers chose to document as mathematics learning. Many of the teachers expressed a preference to document and analyse mathematics learning that occurred within explicit mathematics activities rather than within play that involves mathematics. Our concern is that this restricted documentation of mathematical activity could potentially limit opportunities for mathematics learning both in the centre and home settings. © 2015, Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Inc.