The number of students entering higher education has grown considerably during the last decade. High student numbers and the attendant large class sizes present significant challenges for teachers. Such challenges include knowing how to ensure students are engaging in appropriate out-of-class activity, how to provide prompt and personalised feedback and how to establish what students know and what they don't. If these challenges are left un-resolved the students' learning will not be well supported. This could ultimately lead to students failing modules. This research presents a response to the growth of the student population and was prompted by a high failure rate in a core first year engineering module. The large numbers of students enrolled on the module presented exactly the kinds of challenges noted above, and the existing assessment regime did little to motivate student learning. The response presented in this thesis is the design, development, testing, implementation and evaluation of a new assessment programme; an approach to assessment that provides students with unique weekly tasks. The tasks were formally assessed and contributed towards the students' marks for the module. To ensure the viability of the assessment programme, bespoke computer tools were developed to create, collect and mark the tasks, and to provide feedback to the students. The implementation has been evaluated through an exploration of the impact of the assessment programme on student support, teaching and student learning. In three of the four years where the students were exposed to the assessment programme, the failure rate on the module decreased. The reduction in failure rate is arguably associated with the alignment of the assessment programme with good pedagogy. During the implementation of the assessment programme, the students were engaging in appropriate out-of-class activity in relation to the current topic area. The students had an opportunity to engage in dialogue with their peers and were receiving prompt and regular feedback. The teachers also benefited, since they were able to prepare lectures according to the students' level of demonstrable understanding. In the case where the failure rate did not improve, the students themselves suggested they were downloading and using worked solutions to the problems from the internet. It is suggested that such activity neither provides meaningful opportunity to practise, nor alerts the students to their genuine levels of understanding of the topic areas. In this case the students were following solution procedures rather than developing their own. Student feedback on the assessment has been positive, with many noting how being led to engage with their studies was useful. Somewhat concerning was the feedback from students who noted "they thought the work would help them with their examinations", "they wanted the assessment programme used on other modules" and yet many indicated "they would not have engaged with the activity if it did not count towards the module grade".

Introdução: A multiplicidade de metodologias de ensino e a necessidade de aprimoramento dos resultados da formação dos estudantes impõem, às Instituições de Ensino Superior, a busca de um plano de avaliação dos graduandos, do curso e da instituição, contemplando novos e diferentes métodos avaliativos nas matrizes e projetos pedagógicos. Dentre a diversidade de modelos e técnicas de avaliação disponíveis nas metodologias ativas de ensino, optamos por estudar a Prova de Progressão, que é um tipo de avaliação de desempenho individual do estudante, destinada a medir o conhecimento cognitivo relativo ao conteúdo teórico do ensino didático pedagógico do curso, de forma longitudinal e progressiva; fornece, também, informações importantes para avaliação do curso e da instituição. Acreditando neste tipo de avaliação e buscando apoiar a disseminação e utilização dessa ferramenta avaliativa, este estudo traçou como Objetivos: Geral: Propor diretriz para o processo de avaliação progressiva; para tanto, os objetivos específicos foram: avaliar a Prova de Progressão aplicada no Curso de Graduação em Enfermagem; conhecer o desempenho dos estudantes nas provas de progressão e verificar a existência de relações entre as variáveis relativas à prova e às do desempenho dos estudantes. Método: Estudo de natureza quantitativa com desenho exploratório e descritivo, desenvolvido no Curso de Bacharelado em Enfermagem da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo. Constituiu-se material de análise, as 462 provas de progressão realizadas no período de 2012 a 2106. As 320 questões das provas foram categorizadas em temas conforme o conteúdo teórico do currículo do curso. Foi empregada estatística descritiva para conhecer a adesão e o desempenho do estudante e, estatística inferencial para verificar a existência de relações entre as variáveis. Resultados: Dentre os principais resultados, destacamos que as 320 questões analisadas apresentaram 88 diferentes temas, 42,04% destes temas foram abordados em apenas uma prova. O desempenho dos estudantes, de maneira geral, demonstrou aquisição de conhecimento longitudinal de 39,13% nas primeiras provas para 54,12% nas últimas. Na comparação entre as séries do curso e desempenho na prova, houve diferença significante entre as séries que realizaram as provas em: 2012, 3a>1a (p=0,033; 2=0,108); em 2015, 2a e 4a>1a (p=0,001; 2=0,166) e na prova de 2016, 2a, 3a e 4a>1a (p<0,001; 2=0,305), como é esperado. Conclusões: A prova de progressão mostrou-se uma ferramenta capaz e viável para avaliação de conhecimento dos estudantes e para avaliação curricular e institucional. Com os achados deste estudo, com fundamentação teórica e com revisão de pesquisas, foi construída uma proposta de diretriz avaliativa para prova de progressão, que, dentre outras, recomenda a elaboração de matriz temática para a construção de questões; análise estatística dos resultados das avaliações e realização de feedbacks, envolvendo estudantes, docentes e gestores institucionais. É indispensável, no entanto, o aprofundamento desta investigação para aumentar o poder de generalização dos dados, bem como a aplicação da diretriz construída para testar sua aplicabilidade. Este estudo adensa o conhecimento sobre a prova de progressão, pouco empreendida e pesquisada na enfermagem nacional e internacional, demonstrando os elementos constitutivos, teóricos e metodológicos para construção, aplicação e avaliação da prova de progressão, passíveis de reprodução em diferentes realidades. / Introduction: The multiplicity of teaching methodologies and the need to improve the results of student training impose on higher education institutions the search for an evaluation plan for undergraduates, course and institution, contemplating new and different evaluative methods in the matrices and pedagogical projects. Among the diversity of models and evaluation techniques available in active teaching methodologies, we chose to study the Progress Test, which is a type of individual student performance evaluation, designed to measure cognitive knowledge relative to the theoretical content of pedagogical didactic teaching of the course, in a longitudinal and progressive manner; also providing important information for course and institution evaluation. Believing in this type of evaluation and seeking to support the dissemination and use of this evaluation tool, this study outlined as General Objectives: To propose guidelines for the progressive evaluation process; therefore, the specific objectives were: to evaluate the Progress Test applied in the Nursing Baccalaureate Course; to know the performance of the students in the progress tests and to verify the existence of relations between the variables related to the test and those of the students\' performance. Method: This is a quantitative study with an exploratory and descriptive design developed at the Nursing Baccalaureate Course of the Pontífícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo. Analysis material consisted of the 462 progress tests carried out between 2012 and 2106. The 320 test questions were categorized into topics according to the theoretical content of the course curriculum. Descriptive statistics were used to know student adherence and performance, and inferential statistics to verify the existence of relationships between variables. Results: Among the main results, we highlight that the 320 questions analyzed presented 88 different themes, 42.04% of these themes were addressed in only one test. The performance of the students, in general, demonstrated acquisition of longitudinal knowledge from 39.13% in the first tests to 54.12% in the latter. In the comparison between the year of the course and performance in the test, there was a significant difference between the groups that carried out the tests in: 2012, 3a> 1a (p = 0.033; 2 = 0,108); (p = 0.001; 2 = 0.166) and in the 2016, 2a, 3a and 4a> 1a test (p <0.001; 2 = 0.305), as expected. Conclusions: The progress test proved to be a viable tool for students\' knowledge assessment and for curricular and institutional evaluation. With the findings of this study, with a theoretical basis and with a review of researches, a proposal was prepared for an evaluation guideline for proof of progress, which, among others, recommends the elaboration of a thematic matrix for the construction of questions; statistical analysis of the results of evaluations and feedback, involving students, teachers and institutional managers. It is essential, however, to deepen this research to increase the power of generalization of data, as well as the application of the guideline built to test its applicability. This study adds to the knowledge about the progress test, which was little undertaken and researched in national and international nursing courses, demonstrating the constitutive, theoretical and methodological elements for the construction, application and evaluation of the progress test, which can be replicated in different realities.

Initial teacher education is an area of weakness within the Chilean education system. Yet it is highlighted as a crucial aspect of educational success. Success in educational improvement depends mainly on the teachers (because they enact a reform by putting it into practice), and teacher thinking is likely to influence teacher decision-making. How teacher conceptions and practice change, and how to facilitate this change, was the focus of this study. It explored to what extent peer assessment could facilitate change in pre-service science teachers’ conceptions and practices regarding conceptual explanations in science teaching.In a quasi-experimental design, a ten-session peer assessment intervention was carried out with thirty seven pre-service science teachers in three Chilean universities, each with an experimental and control group. The intervention sought to develop changes in teachers’ conceptions about the quality of explanations and in their skill of explaining scientific concepts. Teachers' thoughts were obtained through a peer assessment questionnaire, feedback sessions, focus groups and interviews. The quality of their explanations was measured at pre, post and follow-up in their eventual first job via video-recorded microteaching episodes using observational analysis. Inter-rater reliability was calculated on 5% of all qualitative data and all the videos were rated by two researchers in a blind process. Qualitative analysis indicated how teachers transformed their conceptions about the quality of explanations from general pedagogical knowledge into pedagogical content knowledge. A quantitative instrument was created to evaluate student teachers’ explanations in practice. Its reliability enables the assessment the skill of explaining based on ten elements (Cronbach’s alpha=.77). Results showed pre-service teachers significantly improved their explanations of scientific concepts in some practical aspects, although not all of them were transferred into real teaching contexts. The changes in student teachers’ conceptions and practice were analysed to indicate how the process occurred, to what extent peer assessment had a role on it, and which elements facilitated or made difficult the transference of the skill of explaining into real teaching. These results indicated that peer assessment can play a noteworthy role in teacher education to develop skills. There are implications for policy and practice in this study, not only for teacher education but also for in-service teacher professional development, not only for Chile but also for other countries.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wyoming, 2007. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Nov. 25, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-205).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1981.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1981.

Music education has a difficult position in comparison with other subjects also taught during the basic education. Whereas the training aspects are preferred to the educational aspects, it is quite hard to assess the abilities and skills gained by learning this subject. The purpose of this work is to find out which forms and methods of assessment are used most extensively by teachers at the second stage of elementary education and what is the influence of these forms and methods on the pupils. The theoretical part of this thesis is focused on forms and methods, which can be used at music education at the second stage of basic education. The questionable position of the music education compared to the other subjects is also discussed. The practical part of the thesis is conceived like a research, focused on identification of the forms and methods used by teachers of music education at the second stage of basic education and assessment of the influence they have on the pupils.

Introdução: A multiplicidade de metodologias de ensino e a necessidade de aprimoramento dos resultados da formação dos estudantes impõem, às Instituições de Ensino Superior, a busca de um plano de avaliação dos graduandos, do curso e da instituição, contemplando novos e diferentes métodos avaliativos nas matrizes e projetos pedagógicos. Dentre a diversidade de modelos e técnicas de avaliação disponíveis nas metodologias ativas de ensino, optamos por estudar a Prova de Progressão, que é um tipo de avaliação de desempenho individual do estudante, destinada a medir o conhecimento cognitivo relativo ao conteúdo teórico do ensino didático pedagógico do curso, de forma longitudinal e progressiva; fornece, também, informações importantes para avaliação do curso e da instituição. Acreditando neste tipo de avaliação e buscando apoiar a disseminação e utilização dessa ferramenta avaliativa, este estudo traçou como Objetivos: Geral: Propor diretriz para o processo de avaliação progressiva; para tanto, os objetivos específicos foram: avaliar a Prova de Progressão aplicada no Curso de Graduação em Enfermagem; conhecer o desempenho dos estudantes nas provas de progressão e verificar a existência de relações entre as variáveis relativas à prova e às do desempenho dos estudantes. Método: Estudo de natureza quantitativa com desenho exploratório e descritivo, desenvolvido no Curso de Bacharelado em Enfermagem da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo. Constituiu-se material de análise, as 462 provas de progressão realizadas no período de 2012 a 2106. As 320 questões das provas foram categorizadas em temas conforme o conteúdo teórico do currículo do curso. Foi empregada estatística descritiva para conhecer a adesão e o desempenho do estudante e, estatística inferencial para verificar a existência de relações entre as variáveis. Resultados: Dentre os principais resultados, destacamos que as 320 questões analisadas apresentaram 88 diferentes temas, 42,04% destes temas foram abordados em apenas uma prova. O desempenho dos estudantes, de maneira geral, demonstrou aquisição de conhecimento longitudinal de 39,13% nas primeiras provas para 54,12% nas últimas. Na comparação entre as séries do curso e desempenho na prova, houve diferença significante entre as séries que realizaram as provas em: 2012, 3a>1a (p=0,033; 2=0,108); em 2015, 2a e 4a>1a (p=0,001; 2=0,166) e na prova de 2016, 2a, 3a e 4a>1a (p<0,001; 2=0,305), como é esperado. Conclusões: A prova de progressão mostrou-se uma ferramenta capaz e viável para avaliação de conhecimento dos estudantes e para avaliação curricular e institucional. Com os achados deste estudo, com fundamentação teórica e com revisão de pesquisas, foi construída uma proposta de diretriz avaliativa para prova de progressão, que, dentre outras, recomenda a elaboração de matriz temática para a construção de questões; análise estatística dos resultados das avaliações e realização de feedbacks, envolvendo estudantes, docentes e gestores institucionais. É indispensável, no entanto, o aprofundamento desta investigação para aumentar o poder de generalização dos dados, bem como a aplicação da diretriz construída para testar sua aplicabilidade. Este estudo adensa o conhecimento sobre a prova de progressão, pouco empreendida e pesquisada na enfermagem nacional e internacional, demonstrando os elementos constitutivos, teóricos e metodológicos para construção, aplicação e avaliação da prova de progressão, passíveis de reprodução em diferentes realidades. / Introduction: The multiplicity of teaching methodologies and the need to improve the results of student training impose on higher education institutions the search for an evaluation plan for undergraduates, course and institution, contemplating new and different evaluative methods in the matrices and pedagogical projects. Among the diversity of models and evaluation techniques available in active teaching methodologies, we chose to study the Progress Test, which is a type of individual student performance evaluation, designed to measure cognitive knowledge relative to the theoretical content of pedagogical didactic teaching of the course, in a longitudinal and progressive manner; also providing important information for course and institution evaluation. Believing in this type of evaluation and seeking to support the dissemination and use of this evaluation tool, this study outlined as General Objectives: To propose guidelines for the progressive evaluation process; therefore, the specific objectives were: to evaluate the Progress Test applied in the Nursing Baccalaureate Course; to know the performance of the students in the progress tests and to verify the existence of relations between the variables related to the test and those of the students\' performance. Method: This is a quantitative study with an exploratory and descriptive design developed at the Nursing Baccalaureate Course of the Pontífícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo. Analysis material consisted of the 462 progress tests carried out between 2012 and 2106. The 320 test questions were categorized into topics according to the theoretical content of the course curriculum. Descriptive statistics were used to know student adherence and performance, and inferential statistics to verify the existence of relationships between variables. Results: Among the main results, we highlight that the 320 questions analyzed presented 88 different themes, 42.04% of these themes were addressed in only one test. The performance of the students, in general, demonstrated acquisition of longitudinal knowledge from 39.13% in the first tests to 54.12% in the latter. In the comparison between the year of the course and performance in the test, there was a significant difference between the groups that carried out the tests in: 2012, 3a> 1a (p = 0.033; 2 = 0,108); (p = 0.001; 2 = 0.166) and in the 2016, 2a, 3a and 4a> 1a test (p <0.001; 2 = 0.305), as expected. Conclusions: The progress test proved to be a viable tool for students\' knowledge assessment and for curricular and institutional evaluation. With the findings of this study, with a theoretical basis and with a review of researches, a proposal was prepared for an evaluation guideline for proof of progress, which, among others, recommends the elaboration of a thematic matrix for the construction of questions; statistical analysis of the results of evaluations and feedback, involving students, teachers and institutional managers. It is essential, however, to deepen this research to increase the power of generalization of data, as well as the application of the guideline built to test its applicability. This study adds to the knowledge about the progress test, which was little undertaken and researched in national and international nursing courses, demonstrating the constitutive, theoretical and methodological elements for the construction, application and evaluation of the progress test, which can be replicated in different realities.

An ethnographic case study of a Year 6 (5th grade) classroom in Southwest England was conducted in order to explore factors that contribute to academic self-efficacy in British education, specifically in this classroom. Data was collected through qualitative observations, a teacher interview, and student questionnaires to determine the level of academic self-efficacy in the classroom. The class consisted of 14 female students and 9 male students, ranging from ten to eleven years old. Of the total number of students, parental consent was received to allow 9 boys and 7 girls to complete questionnaires. Data was analyzed by examining critical issues and comparing anecdotal records to a teacher interview and student questionnaires. Recurrent themes that materialized were: bullying, uniforms, discipline, competition, assessment, and exceptional students. Results showed that these core issues contributed to positive academic self-efficacy among students in this classroom in the context of the British educational system.

No description available.