New College Telford: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 51/94 and 13/98)

The Further Education Funding Council has a legal duty to make sure further education in England is properly assessed. The FEFC’s inspectorate inspects and reports on each college of further education according to a four-year cycle. This record comprises the reports for periods 1993-94 and 1997-98

Amersham and Wycombe College: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 63/96 and 106/00)

The Further Education Funding Council has a legal duty to make sure further education in England is properly assessed. The FEFC’s inspectorate inspects and reports on each college of further education according to a four-year cycle. This record comprises the reports for periods 1995-96 and 1999-2000

Evaluation templates and fulfillment of the university formative objectives: diversification and transverselity of criteria in subjects of Spanish Language and Theory of Literature

In the different projects boarded in these last years by our group from educational innovation, attention to two lines of work has been lent that, applied to subjects integrated in the scopes of the study of the Spanish language and of the theory of Literature, were in our opinion essential to approach the new educative space in which we were immersed. In one first stage, it was fundamental the elaboration of educational materials and the use of heterogenous tools that allowed the student to make a pursuit of the subject in which the knowledge was acquired progressively. The space of the Virtual Campus thus becomes a valid platform for the development and design of different types from activities and exercises by means of which complementary tasks to actual teaching are approached. However, this development raises in one second phase –in which we were now– and almost simultaneously, the necessity to analyze the evaluation methods. Once established the continuous evaluation like fundamental criterion in the development of the subject, it is precise to establish general frames that allow at the same time student’s precise pursuit and transverselity between criteria of evaluation shared by several subjects. From these budgets, our work is centered in the creation of templates or model-cards model that identifie so much the evaluation criteria as the aptitudes that the students must surpass, to the object of which can serve as guide in their application to different disciplines. Therefore, on starting from the exercises designed in the first stage of the project, evaluative models are developed that allow to value the degree of assimilation and execution of the different objectives and contents.Example: Work in group and later exposition and discussions by the students: - Consisting of the putting in common of the results derived from the work in group or other individual derivatives of the theoretical and literary text commentary. - Cooperative learning: works in equipment, inside and outside the classroom. Objectives: to favor the doubt and exchange of information on the subjects debate object, besides to foment initiatives and the critical attitude of the students. - Justification: this type of exercises favors the formation of the student in two-way traffic. First, in as much it must construct his own speech, organize it, structure it and argue it for his putting in common before his companions. It facilitates the personal learning and the development of skills related to the construction, elaboration and written expression of different types from speech. The second, the exposition helps to develop skills and comunicative strategies, contributing to improve the oral expression. Finally, the coordination of the work of group causes a greater implication of the students in the process of elaboration and the final results, as much of the work written as of the oral presentation, without forgetting that the use of other resources (presentations, videos... etc.) by the students facilitates his familiarisation with educational and expositive techniques nearer the present contextInted2009 Proceedings C

Building self-evaluation skills through criterion-referenced assessment in public relations

Although technical skills in public relations are essential to practice, skills in self-evaluation, critical thinking, and problem solving are required when new practitioners move to management roles (Van Leuven, 1999). Public relations courses integrate specialist subject knowledge with graduate skill sets and capabilities in non-technical areas (Butcher & Stefani, 1995). Given that autonomy in learning is a skill valued by employers (Clifford, 1999) and advocated by accrediting professional bodies (Anderson, 1999), this study explores how public relations students build skills in and perceive the practice of self-evaluation. Currently, the public relations education literature presents a limited treatment of self-evaluation. Therefore, this study is guided mostly by the education literature and uses criterion-referenced assessment to determine how more than 150 students understand assessment requirements, assess their strengths and weaknesses, and interpret the differences between their self and their tutor's judgement of performance. The results indicate strong support for student understanding of assessment requirements and self-evaluation techniques but lower than expected support for understanding the differences between their self and tutor judgements. These findings are significant to educators, practitioners and professional bodies as they have implications for lifelong learning for public relations professionals

Blogging It: Encouraging Reflective Thinking for Architectural Practice.

In a period of dynamic change for architectural professionalism and practice, it is becoming increasingly relevant to identify effective ways for students to develop reflective thinking which they will need to manage their transition from student to practitioner and be able to respond to industry change throughout their careers. This paper reports upon an assessment technique using an online blog which was used to capture students’ real-time and reflective thoughts. The key elements of the brief are discussed and the outcomes of the assessment, which included learning experiences which were planned for as well as some which were not predicted