Curricular reform is a widespread trend among medical schools. Assessing the impact that pedagogical changes have on students is a vital step in review process. This study examined how a shift from discipline-focused instruction and assessment to integrated instruction and assessment affected student performance in a second-year medical school…

Three alternative approaches to assessment of exam responses were applied in an undergraduate biochemistry course. First, phenomenography was used to categorize written exam responses into an inclusive hierarchy. Second, responses to the same question were similarly categorized according to the Structure of Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO)…

This mixed method study combined the paradigms of quantitative and qualitative research to examine how iPads are used from teachers' perspectives. In the first phase, the researcher collected and analyzed the quantitative data from classroom observations. The second phase consisted of collecting and analyzing the qualitative data to help explain,…

Cultural resource centers have been an ongoing and integral component to creating a more welcoming campus climate for Students of Color since its establishment in the 1960s. While the racial dynamics may have changed, many of the challenges Students of Color faced on predominantly White campuses have not. Interestingly, cultural resource centers…

Observation is a traditional form of learning and a scientific practice, and as such it plays a significant role in teaching and learning both inside and outside of schools. Recently, educational researchers and philosophers have called attention to the role of observation in scientific knowledge building (Brayboy & Castagno, 2008; Cajete,…

Researchers in the medical domain consider the double-blind placebo controlled clinical trial the gold standard. The data for these clinical trials are collected for a specifically defined hypothesis and there is very little in the realm of secondary data analyses conducted. The underlying purpose of this work is to demonstrate the value and…

The literature and the employee and workforce surveys rank collaborative problem solving (CPS) among the top 5 most critical skills necessary for success in college and the workforce. This paper provides a review of the literature on CPS and related terms, including a discussion of their definitions, importance to higher education and workforce…

This dissertation analyzes how mandated high-stakes tests and college and career ready standards influence local curricula and the reproduction of inequalities between students. I found that inequalities were reproduced based on distinctions between students in co-taught courses (classes that required the presence of an aide to assist students…

Categorising e-learning is almost as problematic as defining the term. In an attempt to quantify/qualify the level of e-learning use in the tertiary sector in New Zealand, the Ministry of Education (MoE) established a classification system for courses in the tertiary sector. The value of this tool was disputed, and a new system was proposed but…

The study set out to examine the partial word knowledge of native speakers, L2 advanced, and intermediate learners of English with regard to four word features from Richards' (1976) taxonomy of aspects describing what knowing a word entails. To capture partial familiarity, the participants completed in writing a test containing low and mid…

Aspects of assessment in physics are considered with the aim of designing assessments that will encourage a deep approach to student learning and will ultimately lead to higher levels of achievement. A range of physics questions are considered and categorized by the level of knowledge and understanding which is require for a successful answer.…

This paper discusses the effectiveness of the early evaluation questions conducted to determine the academic ability of the new students in the Department of Electrical, Electronics and Systems Engineering. Questions designed are knowledge based--on what the students have learned during their pre-university level. The results show students have…

Despite widespread interest in the reintegration of Post-9/11 military veterans into civilian life, the literacies of Post-9/11 veterans, both academic and professional, remain largely untheorized. This paper addresses this dearth of information by examining the induction processes and resulting workplace literacies of soldiers, airmen/women,…

To design an effective computer science curriculum, educators require a systematic method of classifying the difficulty level of learning activities and assessment tasks. This is important for curriculum design and implementation and for communication between educators. Different educators must be able to use the method consistently, so that…

This paper investigated refusal strategies conducted by British native speakers of English (NSE) and Javanese learners of English (JLE). The data were elicited through discourse completion tasks (DCT) from 20 NSE and 50 JLE. Refusal strategies in Javanese were elicited from 35 native speakers of Javanese (NJ) to provide a baseline for…