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The collection of teaching evaluation questionnaires in the traditional paper-and-pencil format is a costly and time-consuming process and yet it is a common assessment practice in many university systems. Web-based data collection would reduce costs and significantly increase the efficiency of the overall evaluation process in numerous ways. Results for both types of surveys are reported from two years of progressive introduction of the web-based survey by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. In the first year, two faculties representing scientific and humanistic fields were selected for a web-based survey. In the second year, eight out of 12 faculties took part in the web survey. This data collection strategy allowed for responses from non-attending students and facilitated a comparison of attitudes between attending and non-attending students. (Contains 1 note and 8 tables.)

While feedback in education is important, formative feedback that leads to improvement in students' learning outcomes and emotional disposition is vital. This argument has been made repeatedly in the Western literature, both by researchers and by students participating in their research in higher education. This paper presents both affective and non-affective improvement as the most frequently occurring theme identified in a mixed-methods study conducted at a National Key University in mainland China, which investigated 232 Chinese students' experiences and expectations of feedback from their Chinese tutors. This paper, thus, concludes that mainland Chinese university students and Western researchers and students likely agree on the primary function of tutor feedback. The desire for tutor feedback to also or chiefly play a formative role appears not to be a geographically or culturally specific phenomenon.

Indigenous Australians represent 2.2% of the working age population, yet account for only 1.4% of all university enrolments. In relation to higher degree research students, Indigenous Australians account for 1.1% of enrolments, but only 0.8% of all higher degree research completions. This paper reports on findings that emerged from an Australian Research Council-funded study which aimed to establish a model of best practice for the supervision of Indigenous doctoral students. The project identified the dissertation examination as one of the critical factors underpinning the success of doctoral candidates. Whilst research into the examination process for doctoral students is limited, the research that specifically explores the examination of dissertations submitted by Indigenous students is entirely inadequate. Our research identified key epistemological concerns that impact approaches to the examination process, to demonstrate how the dominance of Western methods of research impact the examination process for Indigenous doctoral students. This paper explores the experiences of 50 successful Indigenous Australian doctors with a specific focus on their examiner preference and disciplinary requirements. It highlights the limitations that some Indigenous students and their supervisors experience in finding an appropriate examiner.

Feedback can have a great impact on student learning. However, in order for it to be effective, feedback needs to be of high quality. Electronic marking has been one of the latest adaptations of technology in teaching and offers a new format of delivering feedback. There is little research investigating the impact the format of feedback has on quality of feedback and subsequently on student learning. This study sets out to investigate the impact paper-based and electronic methods of assignment submission and return have on students' and markers' perceived quality of feedback. Students and markers on an undergraduate course were asked to complete an anonymous online survey investigating their perceptions of quality, format and timeliness of feedback delivered electronically and on paper. The results showed that marking and providing feedback electronically was an acceptable method for markers, reporting improved speed and consistency of marking. There was no increase or decrease in satisfaction with the feedback received. Overall, electronic marking was found to be an acceptable method of delivery of feedback on written assignments by both students and markers. The findings of this study suggest that electronic marking can result in more timely feedback for students without impacting on quality.

In this paper, we analyse the impact of teacher participation in a University Teaching Diploma on student approaches to studying and learning experience. A quasi-experimental and multilevel design was employed. University teachers answered the Approaches to Teaching Inventory and students completed the Course Experience Questionnaire and the Study Process Questionnaire. In addition, contextual variables were included for both teachers and students. The total sample included 44 teachers and 686 students. Of these, 25 university teachers had completed the University Teaching Diploma and 19 had not; 373 students were in courses with a diploma teacher and 313 in courses were not. Results show that those university teachers who have completed the programme have, in their courses, students who were more likely to declare having adopted a deep approach to studying than those teachers who have not participated in the diploma. At the same time, no significant impact was found on the student learning experience. For practical purposes, this investigation provides evidence for the value of teaching development programmes in promoting deeper approaches to studying. For research purposes, it proposes the use of multilevel models to evaluate the impact of university teaching diplomas.

Assessment feedback allows students to obtain valuable information about how they can improve their future performance and learning strategies. However, research indicates that students are more likely to reject or ignore comments if they evoke negative emotional responses. Despite the importance of this issue, there is a lack of research exploring if certain types of students are more likely to experience negative emotional responses than others. This study builds on extant qualitative studies through a quantitative examination of two previously identified student variables: different citizenship backgrounds (domestic and international) and different grade expectations (higher or lower than expected). The participants were 4514 students from two Australian universities. Analysis of survey data revealed that, regardless of language experience, international students were more likely than domestic students to find feedback comments to be discouraging, upsetting and too critical. Students who received grades lower than they expected on a particular assessment task were more likely than students who received grades higher than they expected to feel sad, shameful and angry as a result of the feedback comments. This paper concludes with several recommendations, including the need to modify assessment feedback practices in order to be sensitive to different student cohorts.

Employers want students who are able to work effectively as members of a team, and expect universities to develop this ability in their graduates. This paper proposes a framework for a collaborative writing assignment that specifically develops students' ability to work in teams. The framework has been tested using two iterations of an action research project, with this paper focusing on the second iteration. The paper provides detailed information on how the framework was implemented, and then reports on the students' perceptions of their learning about teamwork.

Assessment tasks can focus student efforts in what they choose to study. This paper describes the development and initial application of an assessment matrix to support student learning in postgraduate research studies at the University of Adelaide. Students and supervisors in the multi-disciplinary Master programmes also benefit from the clear descriptors to clarify expectations and standardise grading. This reflective paper explores the capacity of a matrix to improve constructive alignment between research course objectives and learning outcomes when it is an integral part of feedback loops. (Contains 2 tables.)

In recent years, research and practice focused on staff and students working in partnership to co-design learning and teaching in higher education has increased. However, within staff-student partnerships a focus on assessment is relatively uncommon, with fewer examples evident in the literature. In this paper, we take the stance that all assessment can be oriented "for" learning, and that students' learning is enhanced by improving their level of assessment literacy. A small study in a Scottish university was undertaken that involved a range of different adaptations to assessment and feedback, in which students were invited to become partners in assessment. We argue that a partnership approach, designed to democratise the assessment process, not only offered students greater agency in their own and their peers' learning, but also helped students to enhance their assessment literacy. Although staff and students reported experiencing a sense of risk, there was immense compensation through increased motivation, and a sense of being part of an engaged learning community. Implications for partnership in assessment are discussed and explored further. We assert that adopting staff-student partnership in assessment and more democratic classroom practices can have a wide range of positive benefits.

Students are an important stakeholder group in the context of quality assurance in higher education. From their perspective as learners, students' views on educational experiences are increasingly used as an indicator of educational quality. The Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) is a widely used quantitative tool to gauge students' perceptions of degree programmes. With a view to enhancing the scope for differentiation between individual questionnaire items, this paper explores the use of best-worst scaling to elicit CEQ responses as an alternative to a ratings instrument. The data for this study were generated from a representative sample (n = 263) of graduates from a Dutch university. The survey focused on two core CEQ scales: Good Teaching and Generic Skills. The results show that the Generic Skills items were deemed more pertinent to the degree programme than were the ones related to Good Teaching, with problem-solving skills perceived as the most relevant aspect. Using latent class analysis, six groups of graduates were identified that differed mainly in terms of the relative importance of the skills attributes. Overall, this study shows how the features of best-worst scaling can be used to enhance the scope for discrimination between items in a degree programme evaluation.

While feedback is widely considered central to student learning, students across the higher education sector commonly report dissatisfaction with the feedback they receive. In contrast, academics often feel they provide quality and informative feedback. This article explores and compares the perceptions of students and academics with regard to feedback practice. The paper presents the results of questionnaire surveys conducted with academics and students at the School of the Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University. It highlights the perceptions of academics and students with regard to preferences for different types of feedback, timeliness of feedback, students' engagement and interest in feedback, quality feedback and satisfaction with current practice. The findings indicate a significant discord between staff and students in relation to certain aspects of feedback practice, namely opinions on students' engagement and interest in feedback, satisfaction with current practice and feedback preference. Similarities in viewpoints were also found in relation to quality feedback.

Participatory assessment is increasingly employed in higher education worldwide as a formative mechanism to support students' active learning. But do students in an increasingly relationally diverse environment perceive that peer assessment of individuals' contributions to group-work tasks enhances their learning? Recognising the impact of students' conceptions on the quality of their learning, this study considers students' perspectives of peer assessment of group-work contributions at a South African university. Questionnaires elicited students' perspectives of and general attitudes towards assessment of and by their peers. A growing measure of discontent with the process of assessing peer contributions to group tasks emerged, including actual and perceived racial and gender stereotyping, and related rejection-sensitivity. These initial findings were checked against the students' experiences in a report-and-respond process that enabled probing discussions of the interpretations. This paper examines and explores the implications of such identifications and receptions for learning engagement and group-work curriculum development in the context of a rapidly transforming higher education sector.

With the proliferation of computer networks and the increased use of Internet-based applications, many forms of social interactions now take place in an on-line context through "Computer-Mediated Communication" (CMC). Many universities are now reaping the benefits of using CMC applications to collect data on student evaluations of faculty, rather than using paper-based surveys in "Face-To-Face" (FTF) classroom settings. While the relative merits of CMC versus FTF student evaluations have been researched extensively, there is limited research published about the ways students respond to the questions from either mode of data collection. This paper reports on a research study to analyse the communication differences between student scores from FTF student evaluations and CMC evaluation questions from end of semester evaluations from a university in the Middle East region. In addition to the questions about communication mode differences between two evaluation questions, several demographic variables were measured to determine any interaction effects. The results of our study suggest that the type of communication channel mitigates the responses that students make on CMC evaluations vis-a-vis FTF evaluations of faculty. In particular, even though there were significant differences found at the aggregate level between CMC and FTF evaluations, when the course and instructor are controlled for, there were no significant differences reported. In addition, several differences were noted depending on the type and level of the course being studied. Also, we found that students are more likely to express more extreme responses to scale questions in CMC than FTF evaluations. Administrators should consider these potential differences when implementing on-line evaluation systems. (Contains 3 tables.)

This paper considers the appropriateness of introducing formal learning agreements in a higher education institution (HEI). It begins by examining the current legal nature of the student/university relationship and the legal status of formal learning agreements. The paper then explores the impact of such agreements on student satisfaction by reviewing the literature pertaining to student satisfaction and discussing the findings from a collaborative inquiry (CI) event, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. It also considers the title that such an agreement should bear and the possible content of such an agreement. The conclusion reached, is that a judiciously constructed learning agreement can potentially improve the service that students receive, promote the notion that a student is a member of a community, influence student expectations and thus increase student satisfaction. It is therefore an option that should be carefully considered, particularly as the vast majority of students who responded to the questionnaire distributed as part of the study supported the introduction of learning agreements. (Contains 7 tables and 2 notes.)

While there has been a good deal of discussion about the scholarship of teaching and learning, and models have been developed to understand its scope, the effects on students' learning of academics engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning are unclear. In the context of initiatives to develop the scholarship of teaching and learning in a large research-intensive university in Australia, this paper discusses the relationship between faculty performance on a set of scholarly accomplishments in relation to teaching and learning from 2002 to 2004, and changes in students' course experiences from 2001 to 2005. The paper provides evidence of the relationship between the scholarship of teaching and learning and students' course experiences and demonstrates the effectiveness of institutional strategies to encourage the scholarship of teaching and learning. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

This paper reports on seven calibrated scales of student engagement emerging from a large-scale study of first year undergraduate students in Australian universities. The analysis presents insights into contemporary undergraduate student engagement, including online, self-managed, peer and student-staff engagement. The results point to the imperative for developing a broader understanding of engagement as a process with several dimensions. These must be acknowledged in any measurement and monitoring of this construct in higher education. The paper calls for a more robust theorising of the engagement concept that encompasses both quantitative and qualitative measures. It considers implications for pedagogy and institutional policy in support of enhancing the quality of the student experience. (Contains 3 tables.)

Whilst the copying, falsification and plagiarism of essays and assignments has long been a prevalent form of academic misconduct amongst undergraduate students, the increasing use of the internet in higher education has raised concern over enhanced levels of online plagiarism and new types of "cyber-cheating". Based on a self-report study of 1222 undergraduate students, this paper explores the nature and patterning of online plagiarism amongst students in UK higher educational institutions. The data find around three-fifths of students self-reporting at least a moderate level of internet-based plagiarism during the past 12 months, with significant differences in terms of gender, educational background and--most notably--subject discipline. Students' online plagiarism was also found to correlate strongly with their self-reported levels of offline plagiarism. The data therefore highlight the need to contextualize online plagiarism in relation to the wider "life-world" of the contemporary university student and, in particular, the role of the internet in their everyday non-academic lives. The paper concludes by discussing how university authorities may go about addressing internet-based plagiarism in the contemporary university setting. (Contains 5 tables.)

In higher education, student evaluation of teaching is widely used as a measure of an academic's teaching performance despite considerable disagreement as to its value. This paper begins by examining the merit of teaching evaluations with reference to the factors influencing the accuracy of the teaching evaluation process. One of the central assumptions on which student evaluation of teaching is based is that there is a relationship between student achievement and student rating of teachers. However, the findings of the majority of studies do not support this assumption. The absence of a strong link between student achievement and teaching evaluations suggests that there is scope for examining other approaches to measuring effective classroom dynamics. This paper presents such an approach based on the notion of transformational classroom leadership. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)

This paper reports the effect of continuous summative assessment on the behaviour and learning environment of students. Assessing the performance of students is considered to be the most important thing a teacher can do for their students and it can have a profound effect on their learning. Continuous summative assessment was introduced as a form of assessment on a module within an undergraduate degree at a UK university. Student perceptions of the process were sought via a questionnaire and interviews. The paper describes the effect the assessment had on student motivation, their approach to learning and the change to their learning environment. The conclusion reached is that while continuous summative assessment may be time-consuming to administer, the rewards of an enhanced learning environment for students outweigh the additional burden on staff. The results should be of interest to those academics who are concerned with assessment and its impact on behaviour.

A time-series analysis was used to investigate Arabic undergraduate students' (n = 50) perceptions of assessed group work in a major government institution of higher education in Qatar. A longitudinal mixed methods approach was employed. Likert scale questionnaires were completed over the duration of a collaborative writing event. Additionally, open-ended questionnaires were administered after the students received their grade for their term paper. This study found that the participants' perceptions were positive towards assessed group work throughout the duration of the event, changed in a statistically significant way after the submission of the first piece of formally assessed work, and are temporal and liable to change depending on what is experienced. The results of this study suggest that: assessed collaborative writing is a feasible pedagogical tool within higher education; undergraduate learners place value on group work as it enables them to collaboratively generate, share and develop their ideas; and researchers who investigate perceptual or attitudinal changes should consider whether their study requires time-sensitive methodology.

This study aims to ascertain student and staff attitudes to and perceptions of audio feedback made available via the virtual learning environment (VLE) for summative assessment. Consistent with action research and reflective practice, this study identifies best practice, highlighting issues in relation to implementation with the intention of redesigning activities in the light of the findings. It utilises four case studies where audio feedback was provided to students using the Wimba voice authoring tool within Blackboard Learn+ for various types of summative assessment. The intention was to identify how and in what context audio feedback via the VLE is effective and why. The research was undertaken via a combination of techniques, including a student survey and staff reflective logs. The findings indicate that students liked the convenience, effectiveness, flexibility and personalised nature of this feedback, but raised concerns with some aspects of the technology. This paper also makes practical recommendations for the use of the feedback mechanism, focusing on the most effective use of the digital medium, and highlights directions for future research.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the capacity of an e-learning tool (blog) to facilitate reflection among students as part of collaborative group learning. The paper provides insights into student attitudes towards blogs as an interactive and reflective learning tool. Additionally, the study highlights the differences between domestic and international student attitudes towards reflection as part of collaborative learning in groups. The results indicate that international students consistently viewed the use of e-learning tools more positively than domestic students. For educators, the results provide direction in terms of enhancements to assessment tasks incorporating e-learning, including the professional development of staff to address the rapidly changing learning environment.

Little work is being undertaken in South Africa to systematically and intentionally prepare undergraduate students to pursue postgraduate studies. This is concerning given the shortage of postgraduate students and the small scale of postgraduate studies. The few programmes and endeavours that exist to prepare students for postgraduate studies are not necessarily evaluated to assess their achievements and shortcomings. This paper provides an evaluation of an academic year-long postgraduate preparation programme, and is specifically concerned with examining subsequent postgraduate enrolment and improvement of participants' marks. The study draws on both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings indicate that the majority of programme participants proceeded to subsequently enrol in postgraduate studies immediately after completing the programme and that the programme played a role in the pursuit of postgraduate studies. However, the findings also indicate that overall participants' marks did not improve after participating in the programme. The study brings to light that, while some achievements are possible, the limits of the programme must also be acknowledged.

The aim of this research was to identify the factors that could be used for quality assessments of the placement centres used by the University of Barcelona's Faculty of Education. To achieve this, a multiple case study method (bachelor's degrees in Education, Social Education and Social Work) was used, which was based on a survey methodology. A questionnaire, which identified seven quality criteria, was applied to 291 placement centres. An analysis of the placement centres' average quality scores revealed that most of them had high scores for consideration of the training activity, tutor-student ratio, type of placement, capacity of providing career opportunities, the centre's tutoring, the tutors' tasks and the coverage of the competences. We considered it necessary to improve the definition of quality placement plans, and the recognition of the tutor's work at the centre; therefore, this paper proposes an instrument to measure and assess the quality indicators described, aiming at improving the placements system at the University by better connecting universities and centres.

Assessment and feedback remains one of the categories that students are least satisfied with within the United Kingdom National Student Survey. The Student Charter promotes the use of various formats of feedback to enhance student learning. This study evaluates the use of audio MP3 as an alternative feedback mechanism to written feedback for physiotherapy students undergoing practical viva voce assessment. In a pilot and larger study, a total of 37 students and 4 tutors were surveyed regarding their views on the use of audio feedback, with response rates of 45 and 100%, respectively. The paper reports qualitative data supporting the use of audio feedback in this context to provide prompt, detailed feedback that clarifies understanding to the students.

Throughout much of the literature on plagiarism in higher education, there is an implicit assumption that students who understand plagiarism, who have high ethical views and declare not to engage in plagiaristic behaviour are able to recognise it and avoid it in practice. Challenging this supposition, this paper contrasts students' self-reported data with their ability to recognise and avoid plagiarism in a proposed case scenario. A questionnaire was adapted from previous literature and administered to a sample of undergraduate first- and second-year students in an Irish university. Results show that self-reported measures are not a powerful predictor of the students' ability to recognise the practical case as an academic breach, nor to avoid the breach through referencing. This suggests that students' understanding and awareness of academic breaches would benefit from experiential learning and that higher education institutions should not merely rely on providing statements and definitions of academic misconduct. Also, the results highlight the potential unsuitability of using self-reported measures to study plagiarism, despite their widespread use. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

Internationally, centralised systems of student evaluation have become normative practice in higher education institutions, providing data for monitoring teaching quality and for teacher professional development. While extensive research has been done on student evaluations, there is less research-based evidence about teachers' perceptions of and engagement with student evaluations, the focus of the research reported in this paper. An interpretive approach framed the study in which data were gathered through questionnaire and interview responses from teaching staff at three New Zealand tertiary institutions. Results highlighted the general acceptance of the notion of student evaluations, recurring ideas about the limitations of evaluations and significant gaps in the way academics engage with student evaluation feedback. Recommendations for enhancing teacher engagement with student evaluation are made to optimise the potential for student evaluations to inform teaching development and to improve students' learning experiences.

In the biosciences, a professional placement experience in academia or industry is intended to contribute to a student's personal and professional training. While there is a general acknowledgement that a placement experience is beneficial for students, recent years have seen a decline in the number of students choosing to go on placements. Using a mixed-method research design, this paper explores the attitudes that influence the bioscience students' decisions on whether or not to undertake a year in a professional placement. Other questions considered in this study were whether placements influence student attitudes towards learning and if students achieve a better degree classification and better employment because of placement. Perspectives from academic staff and employers were compared with student perspectives on the added value of undertaking an extended placement during a period of study at university. While our findings reaffirm some of the perceived advantages of a professional placement in terms of learning and employability, it identifies important factors that influence student decisions not to undertake placements, revealing interesting questions on the placement perspectives between the student, academic tutor and employer. (Contains 6 tables and 1 figure.)

This paper explores incentives for students to engage with continuous learning outside the classroom, i.e. independent study. Two questionnaires were completed with undergraduate students, asking them quantitative and qualitative questions regarding their engagement (or lack thereof) with weekly readings which are non-assessed and non-monitored. The questionnaires identified that the majority of students do not complete the readings despite a consensus that they are crucial for understanding the course material. The two primary reasons expressed for not undertaking independent study are lack of "assessment" or time-bound deadlines and poor "access" to reading material. Students were also asked to imagine potential incentives to encourage the completion of weekly readings, and then ranked these ideas in the second questionnaire. The two proposals with a majority of student support are the introduction of assessment measures to incentivise weekly readings (albeit with some student opposition to such an interventionalist approach) and the introduction of mechanisms that provide greater access to learning materials. These findings introduce the role of "access" as a key mechanism to stimulate independent study, thus challenging the literature's emphasis on assessment as the primary means to facilitate learning. (Contains 4 figures and 2 notes.)

In Europe, national quality assurance systems of higher education have begun to be established. In Finland, this development has had the consequence of forcing universities to take notice of assessment procedures. However, little is known about the procedures taking place in individual academic departments as a result of this pan-European trend. This article describes how academics currently comprehend quality assessment, paying particular attention to self-evaluations and quality assurance systems. Altogether, the paper casts light on how academics are responding to the increasing university assessment activities. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

Creation of multimedia (MM) could be a valuable diversification of assessment methods within non-technical modules. The apparent popularity of sites based on user-generated video content such as YouTube and also of podcasting suggests that relevant skills and interest are becoming more mainstream. Translating book learned knowledge into visual forms involves a specific type of intellectual challenge. It seems possible that generating short MM presentations will increasingly come to be part of organisational communication, making it an increasingly authentic form of assessment. It could simply be a fun and creative variant of the group presentation. However, there is an entrenched cultural suspicion of the visual as superficial. The "technical skills" involved may give unfair advantage to some students. Any change process is likely to meet resistance and raise novel and unexpected obstacles to its perception as a fair form of assessment. The paper explores these issues and outlines the investigation of them in the MAIK (Multimedia Assessment In Knowledge) action research project. It discusses in detail justifications for the design of the assessment task in this context, evaluates the success of this structure and reflects on what was learned from the project about the issues. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper is based on research and development over the last three years that set out to investigate how technology can facilitate interaction and collaborative learning between beginning teachers on a one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education programme. These developments drew on research into formative assessment and collaborative group work as well as developments in information and communication technology, often now referred to as digital technologies. An action research approach was used with the purpose of developing pedagogical practices and student learning through a spiral process of planning, action, observation and reflection involving the author as a teacher researcher. An activity system framework enabled the complexity to be recognised whilst highlighting contradictions that focused attention on key elements that could act as driving forces for change. The development was successful to the extent of enabling collaborative learning in beginning teachers' own development. Furthermore, it engendered a positive approach to incorporating collaborative learning with a focus on peer feedback within a repertoire of pedagogical approaches in their own teaching practices. Some technologies integrated easily into these approaches and made them more efficient. Barriers to developing collaborative learning further within beginning teachers' own practices in their placement schools were identified. These resulted from a contradiction between the object and the community in the school activity system. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

All tertiary institutions in Australia use the same Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ); however, for the internal evaluation of teaching they use their own surveys. This paper performs an analysis of the internal Quality of Teaching Surveys (QTS) used in Australian universities. We classify the questions within the QTS surveys. This classification is used to explore how different universities' surveys are similar to each other. We find that some universities use a QTS that is quite distinct from other universities. We also investigate whether there is a particular pattern to the types of questions used in the surveys. We find that there are some question types that are employed widely in a typical survey and others that are not. This analysis can be used by universities to determine how their surveys compare to their peer institutions and other institutions across Australia. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures and 9 notes.)

This paper examines the stability and validity of a student evaluations of teaching (SET) instrument used by the administration at a university in the PR China. The SET scores for two semesters of courses taught by 435 teachers were collected. Total 388 teachers (170 males and 218 females) were also invited to fill out the 60-item NEO Five-Factor Inventory together with a demographic information questionnaire. The SET responses were found to have very high internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis supported a one-factor solution. The SET re-test correlations were 0.62 for both the teachers who taught the same course (n = 234) and those who taught a different course in the second semester (n = 201). Linguistics teachers received higher SET scores than either social science or humanities or science and technology teachers. Student ratings were significantly related to Neuroticism and Extraversion. Regression results showed that the Big-Five personality traits as a group explained only 2.6% of the total variance of student ratings and academic discipline explained 12.7% of the total variance of student ratings. Overall the stability and validity of SET was supported and future uses of SET scores in the PR China are discussed. (Contains 1 table.)

Portfolios are widely used in the assessment of professional learning. Although claims are made that portfolios promote reflection, the nature of such reflection and the mechanisms that promote it in the portfolio process are not well understood. A four-year action research project investigated a professional practice portfolio for high stakes assessment in a post-graduate programme for special education resource teachers (RTs) that was preparing them for a paradigmatically different role. This paper focuses on the requirement to submit a personal theory (PT) statement in the portfolio. Although tension between the summative and formative purposes of the portfolio was evident for some RTs, a more comprehensive understanding of reflection was evident and many RTs reported that articulating their PT (often for the first time in their career) impacted positively on their ability to reflect on practice. (Contains 2 excerpts.)

Japanese universities' total capacity to accommodate new entrants will reach 100% before 2009. Partly to attract students as "courted customers" (Kitamura 1997, 147), and, with a growing trend towards university accountability and assessment to meet the needs of homogeneously skilled students with diverse study backgrounds, administration of Student Evaluation of Teaching surveys (SETs) has become mandatory. This is problematic, however, as the effects of different "dominant cultures" (McKeachie 1997, 1221) may influence students' attitudes towards evaluation. If ratings reflect how learners feel as well as the way they think (Kulik 2001; Kerridge & Mathews 1998), evaluation results may be influenced by the environment around them on the day of the administration. This questionable discriminant validity of SETs suggests the need to consider additional evaluative measures that address the potential effects of the school environment or "ethos" or culture. This paper examines the dominant culture in a tertiary establishment in Western Japan through an adaptation of an "ethos indicators" questionnaire (MacBeath & McGlynn 2002). Tentative suggestions are offered for how this tool could be adapted for use in tertiary education in Japan and beyond as a counterweight to SETs. Adding another perspective to evaluation is a way to understand the effectiveness of the learning environment for student learning. (Contains 8 tables.)

Knowing how campus-based students engage in key online and general learning practices can play a central role in managing and developing university education. Knowledge in this area is limited, however, despite recent advances in student engagement research, and widespread adoption of online learning systems. This paper responds to the need to develop such knowledge, by documenting the development and application of a typological model of online and general campus-based student engagement. It reports the statistical analyses used to develop the model, and analyses the model's structure and substance. The model is exemplified by considering what it says about how increasingly powerful and pervasive online technologies might be leveraged to enhance campus-based student engagement. (Contains 4 tables and 3 figures.)

Students need to understand assessment processes in order to succeed in higher education. However, recent research has identified how difficult it is for students to become absorbed into the assessment culture of their disciplines, with a recognition that providing written criteria and grade descriptors is not enough to make this tacit "knowledge" transparent to novice students. This paper reports on an exercise where sports studies students used assessment criteria to mark their peers work coupled with an assessment of their peer marking and feedback comments. The latter was included to encourage students to engage seriously with the peer assessment. Analysis of the data indicates considerable benefits for the students in terms of use of criteria, awareness of their achievements and ability to understand assessment feedback.