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For students to sustain their learning beyond higher education, it is important for them to develop their evaluative judgement. Although the importance of evaluative judgement is well-established, the process through which students make such judgements remains contested. This study explores students' evaluative judgement process by asking 20 engineering students to evaluate their own intercultural competence and that of other engineers in task-based interviews. The findings reveal that in the process of judgement-making, students negotiate and navigate multiple dimensions, including their 'knowledge of intercultural competence', 'awareness of bias', 'attitude towards development', 'capability to judge', 'action towards improvement' and 'identity as assessor'. Building on these findings, the study further reconceptualises evaluative judgement as a negotiated process rather than a capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self or formative assessment are terms that, linked to feedback, appear in the literature associated with initiatives aimed at improving the learning process in higher education. Some studies have highlighted the peculiarities of the feedback techniques targeted towards first-year undergraduates, in subjects with a large number of students, or which are taught by a large number of lecturers. This study presents a formative self-assessment programme that was implemented in a subject that meets these challenges. The programme was designed to progressively foster the acquisition of skills and knowledge, in accordance with the syllabus' requirements, and it was structured around the execution, self-correction and reflection on the approach and resolution of three case studies. Participation in the programme appears to have had a positive net impact on the probability of passing the subject and a positive influence on the mark obtained in the final exam of the subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite compelling evidence of its potential effectiveness, uptake of self and peer assessment in higher education has been slower than expected. As with other assessment practices, self and peer assessment is ultimately enabled, or inhibited, by the actions of individual academics. This paper explores what academics see as the benefits and challenges of implementing self and peer assessment, through the analysis of interviews with 13 Australian academics. Thematic analysis of our qualitative data identified seven themes of benefits and five challenges. Our academics showed strong belief in the power of self and peer assessment as formative assessment, contrary to past literature which has focussed on the accuracy of students’ marking. This paper therefore brings insights as to not only what academics value about self and peer assessment but also identifies potential inhibitors in practice. Recommendations are made about improving the design and implementation of self and peer assessment in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In adolescence, antisocial behaviors increase in prevalence, an occurrence that has been related to the parallel increase of impulsive behaviors. However, impulsivity is a conglomerate of unidimensional impulsigenic traits, divided into aspects of behavioral dyscontrol and sensation seeking. In the present study, we examine how these traits differ between interned youth and an aged-matched control group, and how they relate to executive functioning. Results indicate that impulsigenic traits related to behavioral dyscontrol, but not sensation seeking, are more pronounced in interned adolescents. Also, executive functioning was predictive of lack of premeditation, a trait specifically related to antisocial behavior. One implication of this is that interventions improving executive functioning could be beneficial in the rehabilitation of interned adolescents with impulsivity-related problems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study was carried out with 1,857 poor children from 17 schools, living in low-income areas of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. All children took the ‘Student Multiple Intelligences Profile’ (SMIP) questionnaire as part of a bigger project that gathered data around concepts and beliefs of talent. This paper sets out two aims, first to investigate the structural representation of the self perceived multiple intelligences for this set of children and second to discuss how the best fit model might reflect children’s culture and their school experiences. After carrying out exploratory factor analysis, a four factor first order model was shown to have a good fit. A higher order factor solution was investigated owing to the correlation of two latent constructs. In order to provide some insight into the multiple intelligences construct the relationship between the SMIP items, student test outcomes and attitudes to learning were examined. The item groupings were explored through African cultural beliefs around intelligences indigenous to African communities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the effects of different active warm-up (AWU) durations on the diurnal variations of power output during the Wingate test and the rate of perceived exertion (RPE). Eleven male handball players, volunteered to take part in this study, underwent six Wingate tests at 08:00 and 18:00 h after 5 (AWU5), 15 (AWU15), or 20 min (AWU20) of AWU. All the warm-up protocols consisted of pedaling at a constant pace of 60 rpm against 50% of the maximal aerobic power. RPE scores were recorded after the AWU and Wingate test. During the Wingate test, the peak (PP), the mean power (MP), and the fatigue index were measured. The RPE values were not affected by the time-of-day after both AWU and the Wingate test. The PP and MP during the Wingate test were: (i) higher in the evening in comparison with the morning (p < 0.001 andp < 0.01, respectively). (ii) Better PP and MP were recorded after AWU15than after AWU5and AWU20at 08:00 h. Time-of-day affects the Wingate test performance, but not the RPE scores. Moreover, before morning competition, subjects could be advised to increase morning AWU, but not longer than 15 min. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Psychoactive drug use shows great diversity, but due to a disproportionate focus on problematic drug use, predominant nonproblematic drug use remains an understudied phenomenon. Historic and anecdotal evidence shows that natural sources of "psychedelic" drugs (e.g., mescaline and psilocybin) have been used in religious and spiritual settings for centuries, as well as for psycho- logical self-enhancement purposes. Our study assessed a total of 667 psychedelic drug users, other drug users, and drug nonusers by online questionnaires. Coping, life purpose, and spirituality were measured with the Psychological Immune Competence Inventory, the Purpose in Life test, and the Intrinsic Spirituality Scale, respectively. Results indicate that the use of psychedelic drugs with a purpose to enhance self-knowledge is less associated with problems, and correlates positively with coping and spirituality. Albeit the meaning of "spirituality" may be ambiguous, it seems that a spiritually-inclined attitude in drug use may act as a protective factor against drug-related problems. The autognostic use of psychedelic drugs may be thus hypothesized as a "training situation" that promotes self-enhanceiiient by rehearsing personal coping strategies and by gaining self-knowledge. However, to assess the actual efficiency and the speculated long-term benefits of these deliberately provoked exceptional experiences, further qualitative investigations are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When quality management is implemented in multi-divisional organizations, uniform adoption of quality practices across units is often desirable. However, institutional factors may foster customization at the unit level, resulting in variety rather than uniformity among divisions. This study explores differences in quality practices adopted by divisions following a general implementation stimulus from headquarters. Response to external implementation pressure is conceptualized as grounded in the institutional and agency context of units, which creates orientations for adopting quality practices in either an enthusiastic or ceremonial fashion. Case-based data obtained from a multidivisional manufacturing company indicated that units with ceremonial adoption orientations preferred to implement quality practices likely to build contextual infrastructure over practices likely to alter core technical processes. Enthusiast units exhibited no bias between infrastructure and core quality practices. Findings suggest the likelihood that units will comply with implementation mandates in a customized manner that favors unit interests. Policies that encourage constructive attitudes about quality management and trustworthy information exchange between unit and parent may lower institutional barriers to effective quality practice adoption in multidivisional environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many reasons to assign group projects but determining the grade for each individual working in a group can be problematic. Self and peer assessments of contributions to a group project can be used to adjust individual grades. Most studies of such assessments have considered teams with three to seven members. This study documents the degree of congruence between self and peer assessments of contributions to a project assigned to teams of two people. The majority of students (88.6%) assigned equal credit to themselves and to their partner. Only 16.2% of students had their grades adjusted by the assessment process and most of those adjustments were small. These findings may alleviate concerns of instructors and students about the fairness of assigning individual grades to students working on a project in teams of two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research was to study the opinions toward self and task performance in childcare centres as perceived by caregivers under the jurisdiction of the Local Administrative Organization. The four areas evaluated were caregiver characteristics, task performance, objectives of caregiving and educating young children and problems and obstacles at work. The sample comprised 885 caregivers from 74 provinces in four regions of Thailand who were surveyed using a questionnaire consisting of five sections based on the research framework. Caregivers were predominantly female (98.6%), 34 years old on average and had a bachelor's degree in education (40.8%) or in-service training (89.9%) in early childhood education. Caregivers perceived that their personality, teaching preparation, method of teaching, human relations and supervision of children during lunch and play were good. They rated their teaching and regular appraisal of children's progress as 'medium'. Also, at the medium level were activities such as cooking food, planting food and providing parent orientation during the school year. Activities which were not rated highly were raising animals (48.2%) and planning the school curriculum (45.8%). The most frequently ranked objectives in care and educating young children were whole child development (19.27%), promoting morality and ethics (13.20%), children's self care daily activities (12.81%), communicating with and helping parents who work during the day (12.41%) and developing children in the community (9.58%). Problems and obstacles identified were an inadequate budget and unsuitable buildings (X = 3.28). Pollution (X = 1.20) was seen as the least of the caregivers' problems, perhaps because it was not rated as impacting on the performance of caregivers' duties or children's health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating students is a necessary component of all marketing courses. This paper explores the benefits of anonymous peer benchmarking to maximize student motivation, effort and performance within a framework for continuous improvement by tapping into the competitive nature of business students. Using qualitative and quantitative data from multiple sections of a second-year undergraduate Marketing Applications course over a three year time period, this paper does not discuss specific evaluation methods, but rather will explore a more important underlying premise of increasing student motivation to ensure maximum performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 10 years, early childhood professionals have been increasingly influenced by cultural-historical theory. In order to support professionals evolving their practice, the Australian government commissioned a set of cultural-historical resources specifically designed to build literacy and numeracy experiences for children from birth to the age of five years. This paper reports on an investigation of how teachers and families used the tools for supporting concept formation in literacy and numeracy and how they came to understand cultural-historical theory. A sample of 349 people (families, and qualified and unqualified early childhood professionals) were either surveyed online or interviewed in relation to the resources. The findings indicate that teachers focused more explicitly on cognitive outcomes for children as a result of using the resources, and most families interacted differently with their children in everyday situations after having piloted the resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previously, unilateral hearing impairment (UHI) has been considered of little consequence. However, a recent meta-analysis of children with UHI displayed educational and behavioural problems and possible delays of speech and language development. Further, patients with UHI consequently report hearing difficulties. Our study investigated hearing function, possible inner ear protection, and self-assessed hearing problems in 57 subjects aged between 3-80 years with single-sided congenital ear malformations and conductive UHI. Pure-tone thresholds and speech recognition (quiet, noise) were measured, and all patients completed a self-assessment questionnaire. Pure-tone thresholds corresponding to sensorineural function did not significantly differ between the normal (air conduction) and affected ear (bone conduction). However, speech recognition in both quiet and in noise was normal on the non-affected side but significantly worse on the malformed side. A moderate to high degree of self-assessed hearing problems were reported. In conclusion, hearing function in the affected ear was found to be subnormal in terms of supra threshold signal processing. Furthermore, a high degree of hearing difficulty was reported. Therefore, active treatment, surgery, or hearing amplification, might be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University regulations typically assume that the assessment of students is essentially a task for paid academic staff. However, this is a far cry from much of the current literature about assessment in social work education, of which one of the distinguishing features is the not infrequent references to stakeholders beyond the individuals who are to be assessed and the academic staff employed to teach them. This paper reviews some of the recent literature on the involvement of persons other than social work academics, including students, practice teachers and service users, in assessing students studying in social work programmes. Implications for programme providers of using non?academic assessors are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to contribute to the debate about the current status and future directions for Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Excellence. The review of literature examines the foundations of TQM and Business Excellence, the critical issues involved in implementation, and the evidence of impact on performance. The primary research seeks to investigate these issues further by studying TQM implementations in companies over a number of years. Primary research includes a longitudinal case study analysis of 20 organisations (1996-2004), a discourse analysis based on interviews with staff engaged on TQM implementation, and a questionnaire survey. The results identify that there are significant issues with the way TQM is being implemented, and that these may be contributing to negative feelings and a reduced level of interest. Our conclusions suggest that in many cases TQM has lost its way. We discuss the reasons for this and propose that a root and branch review is necessary to re-vitalise interest. This we believe will require a significant re-positioning of TQM, a different approach to implementation, and a return of focus to its core values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an innovative approach to fast-tracking a group of organizations towards world-class performance. The New Zealand Benchmarking Club, formed in May 2000, currently comprises 18 organizations that are striving to achieve an ambitious vision of 'World-class performance by members and widespread adoption of excellent business practices within New Zealand'. Club processes include (1) workshops for sharing best practices; (2) benchmarking projects for undertaking focused best practice studies; (3) an annual business excellence assessment; (4) a business excellence results sharing meeting; (5) benchmarking research support; (6) partnerships to identify and disseminate best practices; and (7) access to a benchmarking and performance improvement website resource. All of these processes are continually improved to help members to identify and adopt better business practices. Findings from the first three years of operation show that the Club is on track to fulfil its vision as members improve their self-assessment scores by approximately 50 points per year. Analysis of the Club's self-assessment results is adding to the general understanding of business excellence. Results provide evidence that if an organization's management systems improve (as assessed by the Baldrige criteria) their business results will improve. Research also shows that the strongest relationship between the Baldrige criteria items is between 'customer focused results' and 'financial and market results'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It has been reported in the extant literature that the attributes of professionalism vary widely with gender, age, the level of education, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds and between professions. This study evaluated Nigerian physiotherapists’ knowledge and attributes of professionalism and also examined the influence of demographic variables on their professionalism. Methods: One hundred and forty-nine physiotherapists recruited from four randomly selected University Teaching Hospitals completed a Professionalism Inventory that assesses demographic variables, knowledge of professionalism and attributes of professionalism - clinical competence, a spirit of inquiry, accountability, autonomy, advocacy, innovation and visionary, collegiality and collaboration, and ethics/value. Results: The physiotherapists’ average knowledge of professionalism score was 62%, and the average attributes of professionalism score were 63/80 (79%). The physiotherapists who are married, older than 40 years, and with a doctorate, with 16-20 years of work experience, and employed in the neurology practice setting demonstrated significantly (p < 0.01) higher knowledge of professionalism than their respective counterparts. Similarly, married physiotherapists and those with a doctorate, employed in the orthopedic/sports practice setting embodied higher attributes of professionalism than their counterparts. Conclusions: The poor knowledge of professionalism reported for the physiotherapists in this study has implications for curricula and licensure reforms in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]