The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between indirect and direct assessments of language and cognitive skills using the PEAK Relational Training System (PEAK). 29 participants were administered the PEAK-Direct Training Pre-Assessment (PEAK-DT-PA) and the PEAK-Generalization Pre-Assessment (PEAK-G-PA). Of those 29 participants, 28 of their caregivers and 10 therapists completed an indirect assessment the 368 skills listed in the PEAK-DT and PEAK-G curricula. The results of the study suggest that there was a strong correlation between the pre-assessments and the indirect reports from both the parents and the therapists for both modules. Additional correlations and interrater reliability across factors and individual test items were also investigated. Finally, trends in interrater reliability between caregiver report and direct assessments suggest that caregivers reporting for participants with lower overall scores more reliably identified if their child had a deficit with an advanced skill, but could less reliably identify if their child had a more basic skill. The opposite trend was found for caregivers reporting on participants with greater overalls scores. Implications of these findings for clinicians and future research are discussed.

In this ubiquitous computing society, most students are required to be proficient in computer skills to compete in today’s global job market. These computer skills usually include skills in business productivity applications. Assessing those skills is normally accomplished by hands-on skills exams, which can become onerous and costly. This study explored whether a combination of a computer self-efficacy (CSE) survey, cognitive questions, and skill-based questions could indeed be a valid alternative to a hands-on skills exam. The findings of this study indicate some types of questions may be better predictors of performance on the hands-on skills exam, and some combinations of survey items and questions may be viable alternatives to hands-on skills exams. As a result of this research, schools and companies could adapt these indirect and direct assessments to their situation to perform their own study or assess the skills of their students/employees.

Le Sous-comité de la conception et de la construction navale de l'Organisation maritime internationale (OMI) a entrepris l'élaboration de critères de stabilité intacts de deuxième génération (SGISC). Le SGISC est une règle supplémentaire qui complète les règles actuelles.En outre, ces critères sont structurés en trois niveaux, à savoir le premier niveau, le deuxième niveau et l'évaluation directe. Les procédures d'évaluation directe pour chaque échec de stabilité sont développées avec la technologie de pointe la plus avancée disponible soit par analyse numérique, soit par travail expérimental pour une analyse quantitative. Dans cette thèse, on présente une implémentation des niveaux 1 et 2 du SGISC dans le solveur hydrostatique, une approche expérimentale pour le navire en détresse dans une tempête et des simulations RANS du même critère. En conclusion, il est possible de mettre en oeuvre les critères de stabilité du navire intact de deuxième génération dans le code de stabilité GHS ©, un code couramment utilisé par les industriels dans le domaine. Cinq navires ont été considérés pour vérifier cette mise en oeuvre. Une méthode expérimentale utilisant une grande soufflerie et une méthode de calcul CFD simplifiée ont été appliquées sur deux modèles. Dans les deux cas, les résultats montrent que l'angle de roulis maximal atteint par les deux navires étudiés est inférieur à celui donné par le calcul réglementaire. La méthode expérimentale est certainement plus proche de la réalité et le calcul CFD reste conservateur sans être aussi contraignant que la réglementation. En conclusion les méthodes expérimentale et numérique développées et utilisées dans ce travail de thèse peuvent être proposées pour l’évaluation directe du critère. / The Sub-Committee of Ship Design and Construction of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has undertaken the development of Second Generation Intact Stability Criteria (SGISC). The GISC is an additional rule that complement present rules. Five failure modes will be address in SGISC are excessive roll in dead ship condition, pure loss of stability, broaching, parametric roll, and excessive acceleration. Moreover, these criteria are structured in three levels namely, first level, second level and direct assessment. Direct assessment procedures for every stability failure are developed with the most advanced state-of-the art technology available either by numerical analysis or experimental work for quantitative analysis. In this thesis, implementations of Level 1 and Level 2 of the SGISC in the hydrostatic solver, experimental approached for dead ship condition and RANS simulation are presented.In conclusion, it was possible to implement the stability criteria of the intact second-generation vessel in the GHS © code of stability, a code commonly used by industrialists in the field. Five vessels were considered to verify this implementation. An experimental wind tunnel method and a simplified CFD calculation method were used on two different models. In both cases, the results show that the maximum roll angle reached by the two vessels studied is lower than the one given by the regulatory calculation. The experimental method is certainly closer to reality and the calculation CFD remains conservative without being as binding as the regulation.Therefore, the two approaches, numerical and experimental can be proposed to be used for Direct Assessment of the criterion.

Den kunskap som ett barns föräldrar och förskolepersonal besitter om dess språk är värdefull att tillvarata, särskilt då formaliserade språkbedömningar kan vara svåradministrerade med små barn. Detta kan exempelvis göras via föräldraenkäter. Studiens syfte var att undersöka vilka likheter och skillnader som förelåg mellan bedömningar av språklig förmåga hos barn, gjorda dels av föräldrar och förskolepersonal via en enkät, dels av logopedstudenter via en logopedisk bedömning. Studiedeltagarna utgjordes av 20 barn i åldrarna 2 ½ - 3 år, 20 föräldrar och 14 förskolepersonal. Föräldrar och förskolepersonal besvarade 18 frågor ur föräldraenkäten Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Test - 2 (REEL-2) och barnen testades av logopedstudenterna på uppgifter motsvarande dessa frågor. Resultatet visade bland annat att de genomsnittliga procentuella överensstämmelserna mellan bedömargrupperna var goda. Ingen kombination av bedömargrupper var signifikant mer överens än någon annan. Vissa tendenser till skillnader framkom när materialet analyserades med avseende på språkliga domäner och enskilda frågor. Slutsatsen var att bedömargrupperna föreföll kunna ge likvärdig, men inte identisk, information om barnens språkliga förmåga. Av den anledningen anses inhämtande av information från olika källor vara betydelsefull. Föräldraenkäter kan vara ett värdefullt verktyg i kontakten mellan logopeder, föräldrar och förskolepersonal och ökad användning av föräldraenkäter tros kunna förbättra samarbetet mellan dessa parter. / Parents’ knowledge about their children’s language is valuable to consider, particularly when formal tests can be difficult to administer with young children. The aim of this study was to examine similarities and differences between parents and preschool teacher’s reports on a questionnaire concerning children’s linguistic development and direct assessment by speech language pathology students. In the study 20 children aged 2 ½ - 3 years, 20 parents and 14 preschool teachers participated. The parents and preschool teachers answered 18 questions from the questionnaire Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Test - 2 (REEL-2) and the children were tested on items based on these questions. The results showed that the interjudge agreement between the groups was high. Some tendencies emerged when the material was analyzed with reference to language domains and individual questions. In conclusion, parents and preschool teachers seemed to be able to give similar information about the children’s linguistic abilities as provided by the direct assessment. The results also indicate that it is important to obtain information about a child’s language from different sources and that parental reports might be beneficial in the collaboration between speech language pathologists, parents and preschool teachers. Increased use of parental reports can facilitate the cooperation between these groups.

<p>Den kunskap som ett barns föräldrar och förskolepersonal besitter om dess språk är värdefull att tillvarata, särskilt då formaliserade språkbedömningar kan vara svåradministrerade med små barn. Detta kan exempelvis göras via föräldraenkäter. Studiens syfte var att undersöka vilka likheter och skillnader som förelåg mellan bedömningar av språklig förmåga hos barn, gjorda dels av föräldrar och förskolepersonal via en enkät, dels av logopedstudenter via en logopedisk bedömning. Studiedeltagarna utgjordes av 20 barn i åldrarna 2 ½ - 3 år, 20 föräldrar och 14 förskolepersonal. Föräldrar och förskolepersonal besvarade 18 frågor ur föräldraenkäten Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Test - 2 (REEL-2) och barnen testades av logopedstudenterna på uppgifter motsvarande dessa frågor.</p><p>Resultatet visade bland annat att de genomsnittliga procentuella överensstämmelserna mellan bedömargrupperna var goda. Ingen kombination av bedömargrupper var signifikant mer överens än någon annan. Vissa tendenser till skillnader framkom när materialet analyserades med avseende på språkliga domäner och enskilda frågor. Slutsatsen var att bedömargrupperna föreföll kunna ge likvärdig, men inte identisk, information om barnens språkliga förmåga. Av den anledningen anses inhämtande av information från olika källor vara betydelsefull. Föräldraenkäter kan vara ett värdefullt verktyg i kontakten mellan logopeder, föräldrar och förskolepersonal och ökad användning av föräldraenkäter tros kunna förbättra samarbetet mellan dessa parter.</p> / <p>Parents’ knowledge about their children’s language is valuable to consider, particularly when formal tests can be difficult to administer with young children. The aim of this study was to examine similarities and differences between parents and preschool teacher’s reports on a questionnaire concerning children’s linguistic development and direct assessment by speech language pathology students. In the study 20 children aged 2 ½ - 3 years, 20 parents and 14 preschool teachers participated. The parents and preschool teachers answered 18 questions from the questionnaire Receptive Expressive Emergent Language Test - 2 (REEL-2) and the children were tested on items based on these questions. </p><p>The results showed that the interjudge agreement between the groups was high. Some tendencies emerged when the material was analyzed with reference to language domains and individual questions. In conclusion, parents and preschool teachers seemed to be able to give similar information about the children’s linguistic abilities as provided by the direct assessment. The results also indicate that it is important to obtain information about a child’s language from different sources and that parental reports might be beneficial in the collaboration between speech language pathologists, parents and preschool teachers. Increased use of parental reports can facilitate the cooperation between these groups.</p>

Practical work plays an important role in the teaching and learning of science. This study was conducted to determine whether the methods and practices employed by physics teachers in Zimbabwe as required by the Zimbabwe School Examination Council (Zimsec) ‘A’ Level Physics Syllabus (9188) on the assessment of practical work skills assist the students in developing other crucial practical skills like manipulation, observational, planning and designing apart from presentation and analysis skills. The convergent parallel mixed methods approach of Creswell (2014) was used to collect, present and analyse data. Quantitative data were collected using the structured observation schedule to get assessment marks for a student using both methods of indirect assessment of practical work skills (IAPS) and direct assessment of practical work skills DAPS for the same practical work activity. Qualitative data were obtained from interviews with the physics teachers and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with the ‘A’ level physics students. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) of the percentage rating of marks obtained by the student as observed during practical work sessions compared to the obtained mark from the submitted practical work report for the same practical work activity was calculated and found to be 0.135 with a Pvalue of 0.432. Both the narrative approach (Creswell, 2007) and conservation analyses (Gray, 2011) were used to present and analyse data from focus group discussions with ‘A’ level physics students and interviews with the physics teachers. The major finding from the analysis of quantitative data was that there was no association between the grades obtained by the student from DAPS as compared to IAPS for the same practical work activity as the value of r was found to be very low. This implied that passing practical work through the assessment of practical work report did not necessarily mean that the student could have mastered the basic skills of manipulation, designing, observation and planning. The views of physics teachers and students who participated in the study were that, the current method of practical work assessment used by Zimsec is not relevant in encouraging students to develop a variety of practical work skills as students concentrated on mastering presentation and analysis skills in order to pass practical work examinations. The study recommends that an alternative model of practical work assessment that integrates both DAPS and IAPS should be used to ensure valid and reliable assessment of practical work skills of ‘A’ level physics students. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)