How convincing is alternative assessment for use in higher education?

The current preference for alternative assessment has been partly stimulated by recent evidence on learning which points to the importance of students' active engagement in the learning process. While alternative assessment may well fulfil the aims of formative assessment, its value in the summative assessment required in higher education is more problematic. If alternative assessment devices are to be used for summative purposes, the validity of alternative assessment has to be considered. The paper argues that task specification and marking consistency in alternative assessment can make comparability of performance difficult to effect, thereby leaving alternative assessment a less than convincing form for use in higher educatio

Citations: Indicators of Quality? The Impact Fallacy

We argue that citation is a composed indicator: short-term citations can be considered as currency at the research front, whereas long-term citations can contribute to the codification of knowledge claims into concept symbols. Knowledge claims at the research front are more likely to be transitory and are therefore problematic as indicators of quality. Citation impact studies focus on short-term citation, and therefore tend to measure not epistemic quality, but involvement in current discourses in which contributions are positioned by referencing. We explore this argument using three case studies: (1) citations of the journal Soziale Welt as an example of a venue that tends not to publish papers at a research front, unlike, for example, JACS; (2) Robert Merton as a concept symbol across theories of citation; and (3) the Multi-RPYS ("Multi-Referenced Publication Year Spectroscopy") of the journals Scientometrics, Gene, and Soziale Welt. We show empirically that the measurement of "quality" in terms of citations can further be qualified: short-term citation currency at the research front can be distinguished from longer-term processes of incorporation and codification of knowledge claims into bodies of knowledge. The recently introduced Multi-RPYS can be used to distinguish between short-term and long-term impacts.Comment: accepted for publication in Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analysis; doi: 10.3389/frma.2016.0000

‘You can see the quality in front of your eyes’: grounding academic standards between rationality and interpretation

This article considers the failure of theory to provide a workable model for academic standards in use. Examining the contrast between theoretical perspectives, it argues that there are four dimensions for which the academy has failed to provide an adequate theoretical account of standards: documented or tacit knowledge of standards; norm or criterion referenced grading; analytical or holistic judgement processes; and broad or local consensus on standards. It concludes that whilst a techno-rational perspective poorly represents the actual practice of standards in use, alternative, interpretivist accounts do not satisfy demands for reliability, transparency and fairness. It concludes by outlining an alternative framework for safeguarding standards: systematising a range of processes for learning about and safeguarding standards, particularly for new staff; reviewing the role and potential of documented standards; building staff awareness and assessment literacy; and establishing trust in standards by students and other stakeholders

Analysis of pavement condition survey data for effective implementation of a network level pavement management program for Kazakhstan

Pavement roads and transportation systems are crucial assets for promoting political stability, as well as economic and sustainable growth in developing countries. However, pavement maintenance backlogs and the high capital costs of road rehabilitation require the use of pavement evaluation tools to assure the best value of the investment. This research presents a methodology for analyzing the collected pavement data for the implementation of a network level pavement management program in Kazakhstan. This methodology, which could also be suitable in other developing countries’ road networks, focuses on the survey data processing to determine cost-effective maintenance treatments for each road section. The proposed methodology aims to support a decision-making process for the application of a strategic level business planning analysis, by extracting information from the survey data

Web-based writing support: making it useable for distance teachers

This paper considers the issues that distance teachers in higher education who are not writing specialists face in supporting their students’ academic writing development. We discuss the usefulness of open web-based writing support resources, and propose the need for a system that serves as an interface with these resources. Such a system should help teachers to make quick selections of materials that can be offered to students to address specific problems in the students’ assignments. We consider principles for the design of such a system, based on the experience of building and testing a small prototype for tutors on an Open University Masters in Education course

Role of Time in Leader-Follower Interactions.

Research has demonstrated time to be an important variable within an organization at an individual, group and cultural level of analysis (Francis-Smythe & Robertson, 1999; Schriber & Gutek, 1987; Gevers et al, 2006; Rutoski et al, 2007). In fact a number of researchers have called for further work to be done in this domain (Ancona, Goodman, Lawrence, & Tushman, 2001; George & Jones, 2000). In response to this call, this paper will explore the role of time in leadership and management. The importance organizations attach to time is only too clear when organizational economic goals and measures of performance (such as monthly targets, productivity measures) are considered. However, it is somewhat surprising that organizations have a limited capability to understand how time permeates and impacts in everyday work practices. This paper will explore the role of time in leadership by introducing the notion of Temporal Intelligence (TI). TI is a developing concept that represents an individual difference factor in regards to a leader’s temporal practices. Specifically, this paper will present the findings from a qualitative research investigation into the role of time in leader-follower interactions. There is concern within the contemporary research arena that a preponderance of attention is directed towards the outcomes of leadership effectiveness rather than relevant individual characteristics (Gawith & Flaxman, 2007; Judge & Bono, 2000; Rubin et al. 2005). The importance of operationizing leadership effectiveness as a research variable is reflected in the end-goal of this project. At the same time it is also recognised there is a need to identify a leader’s temporally related individual characteristics that may potentially provide a fruitful basis for explaining leadership as a phenomenon and predicting effectiveness; this has clear implications for selection and development processes

A systematic empirical comparison of different approaches for normalizing citation impact indicators

We address the question how citation-based bibliometric indicators can best be normalized to ensure fair comparisons between publications from different scientific fields and different years. In a systematic large-scale empirical analysis, we compare a traditional normalization approach based on a field classification system with three source normalization approaches. We pay special attention to the selection of the publications included in the analysis. Publications in national scientific journals, popular scientific magazines, and trade magazines are not included. Unlike earlier studies, we use algorithmically constructed classification systems to evaluate the different normalization approaches. Our analysis shows that a source normalization approach based on the recently introduced idea of fractional citation counting does not perform well. Two other source normalization approaches generally outperform the classification-system-based normalization approach that we study. Our analysis therefore offers considerable support for the use of source-normalized bibliometric indicators