In recent years, employers have expressed concerns that Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduates, though proficient in their academic disciplines, lack the critical skills necessary for success in the workplace (Karimi & Pina, 2021). Additionally, many non-STEM majors do not develop the basic STEM competencies that…

Incorporating literacy instruction in science is a beneficial practice that uses interdisciplinary strategies to address connections between language arts and science. Interdisciplinary curricular approaches in education are common expectations for science teachers and there are increasingly more mandates for embedding literacy into science…

The primary aim of institutional learning outcomes assessment is the creation of a culture of assessment where faculty use evidence-based data to validate and improve teaching and learning for the benefit of students. Faculty are key to these processes and yet, they are often woefully disengaged from them. This paper presents findings from an…

Laboratory work in chemistry has been extensively researched in the last decade but the gap between research and practice is still broad. This "Perspective" shares 10 guiding principles relating to university laboratory education, drawing on research over the last decade. Written with an audience of practitioners in mind, the…

There is an increasing interest in the integration of computational thinking (CT) in the K-12 curriculum. By integrating CT into other disciplines, the aim is to equip students with essential skills to navigate domain-specific challenges. This study conducts a systematic review of 108 peer-reviewed scientific papers to analyze in which K-12…

There are still many unanswered questions regarding the application of response to intervention (RTI) to making eligibility decisions for specific learning disabilities (SLD). Both U.S. federal regulations and research support that students identified with SLD using RTI should be deficient in both level of academic functioning and rate of growth…

Background: Health literacy impacts children's health and educational attainment. Therefore, determining the most appropriate pedagogical design is critical. The long-term health benefits of health literacy for each child's life course further justify this imperative. School-based health literacy programs are of interest internationally. Methods:…

In the final article of the special issue, we offer a reflection on the ideas presented by the authors and recommendations for future research on implementation and assessment of Global, International, and Intercultural (GII) competencies in higher education. Themes identified from the articles include the intersection of GII competencies and…

Learn how to integrate and evaluate primary and secondary sources by using the SOURCES framework. SOURCES is an acronym for an approach that educators can use with student in all grades and content areas: Scrutinize the fundamental source, Organize thoughts, Understand the context, Read between the lines, Corroborate and refute, Establish a…

Artificial intelligence (AI) literacy has emerged to equip students with digital skills for effective evaluation, communication, collaboration, and ethical use of AI in online, home, and workplace settings. Countries are increasingly developing AI curricula to support students' technological skills for future studies and careers. However, there is…

This short article explains the key principles of "rich tasks," a version of authentic assessment developed in Queensland, Australia, as part of a major curriculum development called the "New Basics." In various documents, the project leaders recognised the danger that inappropriate assessment would undermine the proposed…

A multi-disciplinary academic unit at a Canadian university completed an evaluation of course syllabi used in its undergraduate programmes over the previous five years. This paper examines the reasons for the evaluation, the processes employed to collect and analyse the data, and how the results will be incorporated into the next steps of the…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents the following articles: (1) Organizing for Learning Improvement: What It Takes (Andrea M. Pope and Keston H. Fulcher); (2) Editor's Notes: The Leadership Imperatives for Assessment Excellence -- Imperative #2, Attracting and Retaining Talent to Support Assessment Excellence (Stephen P. Hundley);…

A desired outcome of education reform efforts is for undergraduates to effectively integrate knowledge across disciplines in order to evaluate and address real-world issues. Yet there are few assessments designed to measure if and how students think interdisciplinarily. Here, a sample of science faculty were surveyed to understand how they…

Given that few studies have formally examined pedagogical design considerations of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs), this study explored variations in the pedagogical design of six MOOCs offered at the University of Toronto, while considering disciplinary characteristics and expectations of each MOOC. Using a framework (Neumann et al., 2002)…