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This article presents a conceptual framework for trust in standardised assessments. Standardised assessments play an important role in many education systems as they inform decisions about students' future schooling career or entry to the labour market. Also, standardised assessments are often used for teacher performance reviews and school accountability, or to monitor learning outcomes on the national level. Various stakeholders rely on the accuracy of assessment outcomes when making decisions about students' competences, or seek to improve the quality of education. Such reliance implies a need for trust in those who design and administer standardised assessments and make decisions on the basis of the outcomes. The framework presented in this article describes the type of relational and macro‐level trust that is relevant for three types of assessment systems: national, quasi‐market and commercial systems. Throughout the analysis presented, examples are provided to illustrate the ways in which relational and macro‐level trust can vary by who is tested and by whom they are assessed; and how trust in evaluations varies by the purpose and consequences of testing, as well as the individual agency of students, their teachers and school leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the in-depth investigation, the evaluation index of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities is designed and formulated. The weight of evaluation index is determined by using analytic hierarchy process (AHP), by which the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model is established. This model can provide a theoretical basis for the evaluation of innovation and entrepreneurship education in colleges and universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Different restoration modes lead to distinct shifts in soil microbial diversity. • Restoration modes impact soil microbial diversity and functions. • Comprehensive evaluation unveils restoration variations across land types. • Plant-soil-microbial interactions crucial for effective ecosystem restoration. Forest parks in megacities are pivotal in boosting biodiversity, purifying air, and offering essential green areas for community leisure and mental health amidst the hustle and bustle of cities. Yet, these vital oases encounter severe difficulties, including habitat degradation, contamination, and urbanization pressures, jeopardizing their preservation and the crucial ecological advantages they offer. The soil's characteristics and its microbial inhabitants are fundamental in the cycling of nutrients and the well-being of plants, positioning them as central elements in restoration efforts. Nonetheless, the complex interplay among plant, soil, and microbial relationships during the restoration of forest ecosystems in megacities is still not well comprehended. This study aimed to investigate the interactions between plant-soil-microbial dynamics in different ecological restoration modes and construct assessment systems to evaluate the quality of restoration modes in the forest parks. The study identified a total of 25 distinct types of forests damaged by three main factors (farmland, highway, and quarrying) in Chongqing Taisiya Forest Park, and found that long-term natural restoration significantly increased soil properties in these forests. Additionally, an in-depth microbial sequencing analysis showed that Proteobacteria and Ascomycota were the major bacterial and fungal phyla dominant in the restoration process in the urban forests. Further correlation analysis showed that soil microbial diversity positively correlated with plant diversity, with a stronger correlation observed for bacterial communities compared to fungi. The comprehensive evaluation index results for the different forest types revealed varying degrees of restoration success. Collectively, our findings underscore the importance of forest attributes and soil microbial diversity in forest ecosystem restoration and provide valuable insights for designing effective restoration strategies in similar ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of academic productivity in Higher Education Institutions is relevant since it reflects the result of the research presented to society. Although scientific articles are as one of the main means for the dissemination of research results, there are academic products that propose other ways of communicating the results. This article analyzes the dynamics of publication in social sciences, humanities and engineering and technology, in order to recognize the existence of other products and their way of valuing them. Through a quantitative and correlational approach, the productivity data of three areas in the years 2017 and 2018 of a Colombian public university and, in particular, of the graphic design discipline of the year 2018 of two universities (one private and a public one) is studied. The results suggest that in engineering, scientific articles are published primarily in indexed journals that are evaluated through their academic impact; in the social sciences, the publication of books and book chapters prevails; and in humanities, where the arts are found, the existence of impact products is identified, such as creative works, which poses a challenge for evaluation systems since these products are not sufficiently recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text describes the recent contributions of experts and European institutions regarding issues with the dissemination of academic information. The findings can be summarized in three factors: inequality in access to academic information, loss of quality in the assessment of content, and problems in the communication of advances in research. These factors appear due to three essential causes: the commercialization of academic communications, economic globalization, and technological digitalization. The article follows the recommendations made by institutions and experts and proposes three necessary interventions: the improvement of the impact indexation in the dissemination systems, the establishment of internal evaluation systems by experts at research institutions, and a plan to restore the quality of communications in the research community, which is vital for scientific progress in today's society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Norwegian model" has become widely used for assessment and resource allocation purposes. This paper investigates why this model has becomes so widespread and influential. A theoretical background is outlined in which the reduction of "uncertainty" is highlighted as a key feature of performance measurement systems. These theories are then drawn upon when revisiting previous studies of the Norwegian model, its use, and reactions to it, in Sweden. The empirical examples, which concern more formal use on the level of universities as well as responses from individual researchers, shows how particular parts—especially the "publication indicator"—are employed in Swedish academia. The discussion posits that the attractiveness of the Norwegian model largely can be explained by its ability to reduce complexity and uncertainty, even in fields where traditional bibliometric measurement is less applicable. The findings presented should be regarded as examples that can be used for discussion, but one should be careful to interpret these as representative for broader sentiments and trends. The sheer popularity of the Norwegian model, leading to its application in contexts for which it was not designed, can be seen as a major challenge for the future. This paper offers a novel perspective on the Norwegian model by focusing on its general "appeal", rather than on its design, use or (mis)-use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighbourhood is widely recognised as a fundamental building block of a city, and a good starting point to create a truly sustainable community. Green neighbourhood is also broadly defined as being moderately dense, mixed-use, designed at a human scale, active and public transportation oriented and literally “green”. A green neighbourhood assessment system is a tool that evaluates sustainability performance of a given neighbourhood against a set of criteria. This paper evaluates 20 major international green neighbourhood assessment systems in according to their sustainability coverage and features. Sustainability aspects used in this paper include transportation, infrastructure, ecology, resources, energy, community, location, economy and building. The results of this study show that community, resources and ecology are the three major sustainability aspects that applied in 18, 17 and 16 out of 20 assessment systems respectively. However, after assessing the sustainability aspects by their weightings in the assessment systems, the differences among them are reduced and their rate of importance in all the assessment systems became closer. Ecology, energy, transportation, resources and economy receive the highest weightings after affecting by their weightings and incredibly community dropped to the very low importance of weightings. Regarding regional distribution of the systems around the world, initiative of green neighbourhood assessment system was first started in United Kingdom and European Union in 2000 and 2004 respectively and this trend reached to United States in 2005. Meanwhile, LEED (ND) with 184 certificates/projects is the main well-known systems in the world followed by Envirodevelopment in Australia and SPeAR in the United Kingdom with 100 certificates/projects each. It is also found that the highest certification fee (minimum) is LEED (ND) with US$30,000 followed by Green Star (Communities) and CASSBEE and the highest evaluation fee (maximum) goes back to DGNB followed by LEED (ND) and Green Star (Communities). Future research can be conducted on the implementation of several green neighbourhood assessment systems on actual projects and compare their capabilities in measuring the rate of greening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research reviews the concepts and the theoretical frameworks for learning-oriented assessment (LOA), related contemporary studies and research, its use to improve learning, its characteristics, and how to differentiate between it and other types of assessment such as assessment for learning. Besides, it discusses the core components of LOA, related strategies and approaches and their implementation in classroom to promote student learning by using the methods of peer and self-assessment, effective feedback, regulating learning, and sharing learning targets and achievement criteria with students. In addition, the research shows how assessment information and digital tools can be used effectively to monitor student progress and to improve student learning, and discusses possible challenges in a way that helps accurate implementation and student learning. Finally, this research aims to cover the gap in the theoretical and conceptual framework in the field LOA. It is also an important addition to help educators and specialists in the use of assessment for this purpose, and in directing studies and assessment practices more accurately according to its purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case study presented in this paper describes the pedagogical aspects and collected experience in using e-learning tool named IPA-PBL. Improving assessments in the preparation for AMET's (Air Medical Evacuation and Transport) complex task of transfer of injured or sick patients from the place of accident to the hospital or between hospitals represents the main motive for developing this tool. In IPA-PBL, the problem-based learning is applied as a pedagogical strategy as well as a set of concrete methods implemented in the software. Together with the pedagogical model, specific domain ontology is designed. This way, the learner's knowledge can be analysed in order to collect the data necessary for dynamical adaptation of system behaviour. The results collected during the exploitation of IPA-PBL are compared without using the system. Statistical analysis as well as considerations and conclusions about them are also presented in the paper. The predominant number of trainees who participated in the survey expressed positive attitudes about the new interactive type of questions. Therefore, it is considered to extend using such questions not only in assessments but in other parts of the training process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elements of network-based assessment systems are envisioned based on recent advances in knowledge and practice in learning theory, assessment design and delivery, and semantic web interoperability. The architecture takes advantage of the meditating role of technology as well as recent models of assessment systems. This overview of the elements outlines the advantages of technology for facilitating new forms of assessment, includes a brief discussion of a contemporary model of assessment design, and is illustrated with a case study of an application of the architecture. The case study is drawn from a research and development technology project (eTIPS) that was funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]