Flipping the roles: Analysis of a university course where students become co-creators of curricula

In this paper I present the transformation of a university course inspired by the theoretical background of the student voice approach (Fielding, 2004a and 2004b; Cook-Sather, 2006) and, in particular, the ways students are encouraged to be \u201cco-creators of curricula\u201d through partnership with faculty (Bovill, Cook\u2010Sather & Felten, 2011). I introduce active learning practices centered on \u201cstudent generated content\u201d (Sener, 2007; Bates et al., 2012), allowing a new rendering of the traditional lesson cycle: frontal lesson, individual study, and final exam. The change in students\u2019 attitude towards study and final exam support the effectiveness of this methodology

New Approach to Solve Some Problems in Undergraduate Education of Chemical Engineering Students

The present short paper is an attempt in the direction of understanding the learning problems of undergraduate students. Sample of chemical engineering students was selected to perform a simple exam test. The test was divided into four steps. Closed book - individual student, Closed book - cooperative students, Open book - cooperative students, and Exam completion steps. Questionnaire was carried out to obtain the research results. It was found that a large percentage of the students are not studying carefully, the studying method was shallow and depend only on reading ready printed lectures. The results compared with previous exam results. Current test improved the performance of students. The novelty of present work represented by applying a new teaching method in colleges of engineering in Iraq. This short paper also proved that the methods of teaching not restricted to social and humanity studies. paper is an attempt in the direction of understanding the learning problems of undergraduate students. Sample of chemical engineering students was selected to perform a simple exam test. The test was divided into four steps. Closed book - individual student, Closed book - cooperative students, Open book - cooperative students, and Exam completion steps. Questionnaire was carried out to obtain the research results. It was found that a large percentage of the students are not studying carefully, the studying method was shallow and depend only on reading ready printed lectures. The results compared with previous exam results. Current test improved the performance of students. The novelty of present work represented by applying a new teaching method in colleges of engineering in Iraq. This short paper also proved that the methods of teaching not restricted to social and humanity studies

Ramadan school holidays as a natural experiment : impacts of seasonality on school dropout in Bangladesh

In 2000, Ramadan school vacation coincided with the original annual exam period of December in Bangladesh. This forced schools to pre-pone their final exam schedules in November, which was the month before the harvest begins. 'Ramadan 2000' is a natural experiment that reduced the labor demand for children during the exam period. Using household level panel data of 2000 and 2003, and after controlling for various unobservable variations including individual fixed effects, aggregate year effects, and subdistrict-level year effects, this paper finds evidence of statistically significant impact of seasonal labor demand on school dropout in Bangladesh among the children from agricultural households.Bangladesh, Child labor, Schools, Labor market, Drop out, Seasonal labor demand, School calendar

Gastro-intestinal parasites of pigs in Sardinia: a copromicroscopical investigation

This paper illustrates a copromicroscopical investigation carried out in Sardinia to update epidemiological data on diffusion of gastro-intestinal parasites in swine. Results obtained lead to suggest the employment of copromicroscopic exam to monitorate parasites diffusion in swine breedings in order to set up correct prophylactic and therapeutically intervents

British male students continue to fall behind in secondary school achievement

It is common knowledge that boys fall behind in school performance, and UK policy makers have addressed this issue in the past decade. In fact, they seem committed to narrowing gender gaps of any kind. This paper asks whether actual progress has been made in reducing the degree to which boys fall behind, and also whether gender differences in subject preference have changed in the period 2001 to 2013. Using an analysis of British secondary-education exam data and a comparison with data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), it is concluded that no progress has been made: Boys attained fewer top grades in nearly all school subjects. Further, boys and girls continue to choose elective school subjects along traditional interest lines. The problem of boys falling behind is obscured by the finding that grades of all children have risen considerably in this period. However, a comparison of Mathematics and English exam grades with PISA data suggests that this rise is due to grade inflation, not real improvement. The paper closes with recommendations for solutions

Transparent authentication methodology in electronic education

In the context of on-line assessment in e-learning, a problem arises when a student taking an exam may wish to cheat by handing over personal credentials to someone else to take their place in an exam, Another problem is that there is no method for signing digital content as it is being produced in a computerized environment. Our proposed solution is to digitally sign the participant’s work by embedding voice samples in the transcript paper at regular intervals. In this investigation, we have demonstrated that a transparent stenographic methodology will provide an innovative and practical solution for achieving continuous authentication in an online educational environment by successful insertion and extraction of audio digital signatures

Presidential elections and the manipulation of exam success rate in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper investigates whether the exam success rate in Africa increases significantly in the months prior to the occurrence of the presidential elections. It hypothesizes that the incumbent is tempted to increase the exam success rate to retain a form of social cohesion and to ‘buy’ votes. A sample of 15 francophone African countries observed from 1990 to 2009 yields three findings. First, post-exam presidential elections significantly increase the exam success rate by six percentage points. Second, the manipulation of the exam success rate is positively correlated with the re-election of the incumbent. Third, these results do not hold when elections occur before the exam dates or when the incumbent or a member of his/her party do not run for the presidential seat.Sub-Saharan Africa, Exam success rate, Presidential elections

Tougher Educational Exam Leading to Worse Selection

This paper shows a somehow counterintuitive result: an increase in the exam diculty may reduce the average quality (productivity) of selected individuals. Since the exam does not verify all skills, when its standard rises, candidates with relatively low skills emphasized in the test and high skills demanded in the job may no longer qualify. Hence, an increase in the testing standard may be counterproductive. One implication is that policies should emphasize alignment between the skills tested and those required in the actual jobs.school standard, signaling model, cognitive skill, noncog- nitive skill