Based on a survey among 1274 secondary school teachers in Flanders (Belgium), this paper describes the relationship between the assessment practices and forms of assessment policy (testing culture or assessment culture) and between forms of general school policy (student-oriented or achievement-oriented) and forms of assessment policy that…

In their widely read article "Inside the Black Box," the authors demonstrated that improving formative assessment raises student achievement. Now in this article, they and their colleagues report on a follow-up project that has helped teachers change their practice and students change their behavior so that everyone shares responsibility…

The evaluation of solutions is a major unresolved issue for all those involved in e-learning. In this paper we illustrate the importance of context by means of a qualitative comparison of two e-learning prototype implementations--an action research case undertaken in conjunction with a major German insurance company; and a more experimental…

Each year, billions of US tax dollars are spent on basic discovery, intervention development, and efficacy research, while hundreds of billions of US tax dollars are also spent on health service delivery programs. However, little is spent on or known about how best to ensure that the lessons learned from science inform and improve the quality of…

We examine the equivalence of two construct-a-concept-map techniques: construct-a-map with created linking phrases (C), and construct-a-map with selected linking phrases (S). The former places few constraints on the respondent and has been considered the gold standard; the latter is cost and time efficient. Both their products and processes are…

Formative assessment and instructional scaffolding are essentially the same thing. Formative assessment uses insights about a learner's current understandings to alter the course of instruction and thus support the development of greater competence. Scaffolding refers to supports that teachers provide the learner during problem solving--in the…

This multiple case study explored faculty formative use of student evaluation feedback. Results were based on interviews of ten education faculty members at a midwestern research university and reviews of relevant documents. It was found that end of semester student evaluation, originally used for summative evaluation, was also used by faculty for…

It is argued that learning and instruction could be conceptualized from a process-analytic perspective. Important questions from the field of learning and instruction are presented which can be answered using our approach of process analyses. A classification system of process concepts and methods is given. One main advantage of this kind of…

In this article, the authors introduce the Improving Science Together (IST) project (2000-2002), funded by the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust. The project was a partnership between 20 primary and 4 secondary schools in Bristol and South Gloucestershire, LEA advisory staff, BAE Systems, and the primary science team at Bath Spa University…

This article describes the possibilities offered by the online assessment system Etude to achieve the benefits of formative assessment. In order to find out the way this works in practice, we carried out an experiment with the use of Etude for formative assessment in the course on collaborative report writing. Results show that online formative…

Purpose: To describe the issues involved in the introduction of mandatory submission of electronic theses at Cranfield University. Design/methodology/approach: Background information on how the availability of e-theses has developed at Cranfield University is provided along with discussions and advice on issues such as the choice of software,…

Purpose: To provide a general list of factors that affects and determines the full use of library information management systems (LIMS) by library staff. Design/methodology/approach: The factors, which were identified mainly during participation in the implementation of automation projects in Greece, are listed and briefly analysed in categories…

This study investigated the effectiveness of collaboration between college lecturers and student peers in assessing the instructional practice of in-service student teachers (ISTs). The study was inspired by criticisms that college lecturers' assessments were not producing valid critiques of ISTs' mathematical and pedagogical competencies to…

Purpose: Alongside teachers, community nurses have been identified as having an important role to play in the provision of school-based personal, social and health education (PSHE) and sex and relationships education (SRE). However, there currently exist few programmes of preparation for this work that recognise the specific contribution of…

The Learner-Centered Leadership program is a new initiative that provides professional development opportunities to school administrators through a mentoring model. The focus on learner-centered leadership reflects renewed attention to the primary role of teaching and learning in the development of school leadership expertise. With a focus on…