This study follows well-published educational criteria for assessing the quality of learning outcomes and investigates how these criteria are applied to descriptors of courses that include object oriented programming concepts. These quality criteria aim to ensure that learning outcomes are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and…

This paper reports a study into the development of staff understanding of assessment and assessment practice. Eight teachers from two universities constructed an initial concept map about assessment that was discussed in a one-to-one semi-structured interview. A year later, a new map was created and the interview focused on change in thinking and…

A review of articles published in "Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education," over the last eight years (2006-2013) on assessment in higher education, since the introduction of the Bologna process, is the subject of the paper. The first part discusses the key issue of assessment in higher education and the method used for selecting…

A group of postgraduate accounting and finance students were asked to participate in a three-phase exercise: sit an unseen past examination question; mark a fully anonymised previous student solution (exemplar); and then mark their own work. The marking process was facilitated by explaining and discussing the marking guide, assessment systems and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors relating to retention of employers on an undergraduate work placement programme in a third level institution. Design/methodology/approach: An action research methodology involving problem diagnosis, intervention planning, action and evaluation is employed. The diagnosis involved a…

This research sought to determine whether a blended information literacy learning and teaching intervention could statistically significantly enhance undergraduates' information discernment compared to standard face-to-face delivery. A mixture of face-to-face and online activities, including online social media learning, was used. Three…

Each year, the public post-secondary institutions in British Columbia admit large numbers of new students to their various programs. Each institution has autonomy in making choices in the selection of its students and, as a result, a variety of methods and processes are used. A survey conducted by the British Columbia Council on Admissions and…

This exercise aims to provide a hands-on, role-playing activity that requires students to evaluate the strengths and limitations of standardized tests in making admission decisions. Small groups pretend to be an admissions committee and review fictitious student applications containing both standardized test scores and other information admissions…

The 2008 United Kingdom Research Assessment Exercise will involve the evaluation of thousands of individual research outputs. The Funding Councils set three criteria for those evaluations--Originality, rigour and significance--and required each output to be placed into a fivefold categorisation of excellence, using absolute rather than relative…

To make dramatic improvements in all students' preparation for college and careers, states need thoughtful, intentional human capital strategies that get the right teachers in the right places in the right subjects. The need is especially acute in states that have or plan to adopt college- and career-ready academic standards and graduation…

A Canadian university required a new admissions policy in order to increase the fairness of procedures for second language (L2) international students, admitted provisionally to the university with mandatory language course requirements. This necessitated reform of the English for Academic Purposes (EAP) curriculum, but there was no agreement…

Purpose: This study aims to examine the potential effects of the gender similarity between the presenter and evaluator on the presentation evaluation scores obtained with an evaluation form. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected from marketing students at two universities in the USA. A rubric and separate survey instrument were used…

Residency training directors have noted variability in the quality of deans' letters sent by medical schools on behalf of graduating students. Letters from 103 U.S. medical schools received by the University of California--Los Angeles, Neuropsychiatric Institute were rated. Recommendations are offered for authors and readers of deans' letters.…

This article is based on research and development carried out at the Centre for Outcomes-Based Education at the Open University (OU). It explores the way in which higher education (HE) assessment could meet specific criteria in order to assess the unique qualities that underpin the relationship between practitioner-researchers and the workplace.…

Describes the inconsistencies and inaccuracies in 50 instructors' markings of some 2,000 freshman English themes. (DD)