The Australian Research Quality Framework: A live experiment in capturing the social, economic, environmental, and cultural returns of publicly funded research

Copyright @ 2008 Wiley Periodicals Inc. This is the accepted version of the following article: Donovan, C. (2008), The Australian Research Quality Framework: A live experiment in capturing the social, economic, environmental, and cultural returns of publicly funded research. New Directions for Evaluation, 2008: 47–60, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ev.260/abstract.The author regards development of Australia's ill-fated Research Quality Framework (RQF) as a “live experiment” in determining the most appropriate approach to evaluating the extra-academic returns, or “impact,” of a nation's publicly funded research. The RQF was at the forefront of an international movement toward richer qualitative, contextual approaches that aimed to gauge the wider economic, social, environmental, and cultural benefits of research. Its construction and implementation sent mixed messages and created confusion about what impact is, and how it is best measured, to the extent that this bold live experiment did not come to fruition

International student survey 2014

Introduction This report documents research into the experiences of international students studying in Australia. The survey sought responses from international students studying onshore in the higher  ducation, vocational education and training (VET) and English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas (ELICOS) Students sectors, using the International Student Barometer (ISB) survey instrument. A separate survey instrument was used to seek responses from international students aged 16 years or over studying in Australian secondary schools in years 11 and 12. The 2014 International Student Survey (ISS) follows equivalent surveys conducted in Australia in 2012 and 2010. This 2014 overview report focuses on the satisfaction levels reported by respondents against a number of key indicators. In addition, high-level comparisons are made with 2014 international benchmarks obtained from use of the ISB survey instrument in other major destination countries for international students. Hence the report not only provides information about international students’ experience in Australia, but also how their experience compares to international students studying elsewhere in the world

Force monitor for training manual skills in the training of chiropractors

As part of their training, students of Chiropractic Medicine at Zürich are trained to acquire and then improve their manual and manipulative skills, especially their ability to deliver manipulative thrusts with a defined preloading force, an impulse that is delivered with an adequate and reproducible force within a defined time without letting up on the preload-pressure. In order to facilitate this process, objective feedback is paramount. This led to the idea of developing a force-measurement and -monitoring system. The newly developed system consists of a wireless device with a force sensor and an app that is running on standard smartphones. The device records the force applied to the sensor and transmits it via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to the app. There it is visualised as a graph and can be evaluated. The system allows us to provide all students with a tool to develop their manual skills, and especially their thrusting technique. As the feedback given by the system can be record ed, progress can be monitored and students can be mentored accurately according to their strengths and weaknesses

The standard error of measurement is a more appropriate measure of quality for postgraduate medical assessments than is reliability: an analysis of MRCP(UK) examinations

Background: Cronbach's alpha is widely used as the preferred index of reliability for medical postgraduate examinations. A value of 0.8-0.9 is seen by providers and regulators alike as an adequate demonstration of acceptable reliability for any assessment. Of the other statistical parameters, Standard Error of Measurement (SEM) is mainly seen as useful only in determining the accuracy of a pass mark. However the alpha coefficient depends both on SEM and on the ability range (standard deviation, SD) of candidates taking an exam. This study investigated the extent to which the necessarily narrower ability range in candidates taking the second of the three part MRCP(UK) diploma examinations, biases assessment of reliability and SEM.Methods: a) The interrelationships of standard deviation (SD), SEM and reliability were investigated in a Monte Carlo simulation of 10,000 candidates taking a postgraduate examination. b) Reliability and SEM were studied in the MRCP(UK) Part 1 and Part 2 Written Examinations from 2002 to 2008. c) Reliability and SEM were studied in eight Specialty Certificate Examinations introduced in 2008-9.Results: The Monte Carlo simulation showed, as expected, that restricting the range of an assessment only to those who had already passed it, dramatically reduced the reliability but did not affect the SEM of a simulated assessment. The analysis of the MRCP(UK) Part 1 and Part 2 written examinations showed that the MRCP(UK) Part 2 written examination had a lower reliability than the Part 1 examination, but, despite that lower reliability, the Part 2 examination also had a smaller SEM (indicating a more accurate assessment). The Specialty Certificate Examinations had small Ns, and as a result, wide variability in their reliabilities, but SEMs were comparable with MRCP(UK) Part 2.Conclusions: An emphasis upon assessing the quality of assessments primarily in terms of reliability alone can produce a paradoxical and distorted picture, particularly in the situation where a narrower range of candidate ability is an inevitable consequence of being able to take a second part examination only after passing the first part examination. Reliability also shows problems when numbers of candidates in examinations are low and sampling error affects the range of candidate ability. SEM is not subject to such problems; it is therefore a better measure of the quality of an assessment and is recommended for routine use

Mine Action 2020: Book of Papers

Book of papers that was to be presented at the 2020 Mine Action Symposium in Croatia. The Symposium canceled due to COVID-19