This study reports the development and validation of an instrument, "Undergraduate STEM Educational Process Questionnaire" (USEPQ) to assess the learning experiences of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)-major undergraduates from the perspective of a conceptualized comprehensive STEM educational process framework…

The research on the second language (L2) speaking assessment has been predominantly concerned with formal proficiency tests. However, with a growing interest in learning-oriented assessment (LOA), more researchers are interested in learner involvement in speaking assessment (Blanche & Merino, 1989; Luoma, 2004; Ocarson, 1989). Self- and…

This paper responds to the need for a greater integration of energy and environment themes in the higher education curriculum. We explore the practical implications of empowering students towards the implementation of individual action research projects focused on investigating and addressing insufficient or wasteful energy consumption among…

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…

Background: Assessment can have various functions, and is an important impetus for student learning. For assessment to be effective, it should be aligned with curriculum goals and of sufficient quality. Although it has been suggested that assessment quality in physical education (PE) is suboptimal, research into actual assessment practices has…

Physics applets are well known appealing resources to teach and learn physics, and a large number of them are available on the Internet. Nevertheless, not all of them are of the same quality, because such applets do not fit every specific teaching/learning purpose. The start question was which features should have a physics applet in order that it…

As a result of the rapid development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the growing interest in Internet-based tools for language classroom, it has become a pressing need for educators to locate, evaluate and select the most appropriate language-learning digital resources that foster more communicative and meaningful learning…

Lean is regarded as a systematic approach to maximizing value by minimizing waste, and by flowing the product or service at the pull of the customer demand. These key concepts of "value," "flow," and "pull," align with the ultimate lean goal: "perfection," or a continuous striving for improvement in the…

This paper describes a teaching method used in an electrical machines course, where the students learn about electrical machines by designing them. The aim of the course is not to teach design, albeit this is a side product, but rather to teach the fundamentals and the function of electrical machines through design. The teaching method is…

This article examines an innovation in teaching-learning and assessment processes through the use of a platform called the Competency Assessment Tool (CAT). It allows for the tracking of student blogs with the objective of improving self-reflective processes and providing feedback. The experiment was carried out in six universities in Catalonia,…

Solving well-structured problems often requires using considerable related concepts which are usually scattered and introduced throughout different learning units of a subject. In addition, poor learning of related concepts of preceding units may block the learning of subsequent units, and eventually leads to the inability to solve well-structured…

Executive function (EF) skills are the attention-regulation skills that make it possible to sustain attention, keep goals and information in mind, refrain from responding immediately, resist distraction, tolerate frustration, consider the consequences of different behaviors, reflect on past experiences, and plan for the future. As EF research…

In this article, the author describes the "Learning Disposition Questionnaire" (LDQ) a tool designed to address more of the "integrity and identity" of college students as learners. Rather than using students' documented skills as a lens by which to assume or interpret learning dispositions, a direct way to evaluate and assess…

This case study looked at how an assessment strategy designed for an online learning environment can support teachers' professional development. More specifically, we intended to evaluate how a particular online assessment design can help the participating in-service teachers to recognize the added value of formative assessment, and promote their…

This article analyzes the various types of information that alternative assessment and traditional assessment practices provided in an English foreign language (FL) reading course for graduate students at a public university in Medellín, Colombia. This study followed the principles of qualitative research, and a case study was used as a research…