Assessment in higher education : the potential for a community of practice to improve inter-marker reliability

The design, delivery and assessment of a complete educational scheme, such as a degree programme or a professional qualification course, is a complex matter. Maintaining alignment between the stated aims of the curriculum and the scoring of student achievement is an overarching concern. The potential for drift across individual aspects of an educational scheme (teaching, learning and assessment), together with emerging criticism in extant literature of the reliability of marking processes, suggests that, in practice, maintaining alignment might be more difficult than had previously been assumed. In this paper, the concept of a Community of Practice (CoP) is employed as an analytical lens through which the notion of a markers’ standardisation meeting that focuses on maintaining alignment between the curriculum, the marking scheme and the scoring of student scripts can be critically examined. Given that the aims and subject content of management learning are both multidimensional and contextual, such meetings have the potential to develop a shared approach to the elaboration and application of the marking scheme. A further role of the CoP is in the calibration of markers to accommodate further variations in student responses as they arise in the actual marking process. In this respect, the CoP has both descriptive and prescriptive potential in terms of aiding the development of markers of professional accounting examinations and also, we suggest, within accounting education more generally

Disentangling the Effects of Corporate Disclosure on the Cost of Equity Capital: A Study of the Role of Intellectual Capital Disclosure

In this article, we investigate whether intellectual capital (IC) and financial disclosures jointly affect the firm’s cost of equity capital. In contrast to prior research, we disaggregate disclosures into IC and financial disclosures and examine whether the two disclosure types are jointly related to the cost of equity capital. We also investigate whether IC and financial disclosures have an interaction effect on the cost of equity capital. Using data for a sample of 125 U.K. firms, we find a negative relationship between the cost of equity capital and IC disclosure. We find that the relationship between financial disclosure and the cost of equity capital is magnified when combined with IC disclosure. In addition, we find that IC and financial disclosures interact in shaping their effects on the cost of equity capital. Further analyses suggest that the effect of financial disclosure on the cost of equity capital is augmented for firms characterized by a medium level of IC disclosure. These results provideimportant insights into the relationship between disclosures and cost of equity capital and have policy and practical implications

Collaboration and leadership for sustainability

Cumbria’s sustainability depends upon the collaborative efforts of business, government, academia, voluntary sector and local communities. Cumbria’s development, sustainability and leadership challenges are complex and interconnected and need different sectors to work together towards more sustainable forms of development. Sustainability partnerships offer opportunities to leverage partner resources, stimulate innovative leadership and maximise impact. This workshop will enable participants to understand the rationale for, and risks of, such collaboration for business and when, and when not, to get involved

Work, Power and Performance: Analysing the 'reality' game of The Apprentice

This article addresses the relationship between the British version of the reality television programme The Apprentice and the shifting working cultures of contemporary neoliberalism. It explores how the programme enacts, through ritualized play, many skills required by the ‘flexible’ work economy: emotional commitment, entrepreneurial adaptability, a combination of team conformity and personal ambition. In particular, it highlights how newly calibrated requirements of sociality, ‘passion’, and power-as-charisma are negotiated by the programme in relation to broader emergent norms of neoliberal governmentality. However, the article simultaneously argues against overly deterministic deployments of governmentality theory, suggesting it be both supplemented by other tools (media rituals and the affective role of passion), and reoriented back towards a Foucauldian emphasis upon the instability of power. This can, it argues, both enable the programme’s appeal to be more effectively understood and help us comprehend the spaces and places where neoliberal governmentality fails, wholly or partly, to be foregrounded

Stakeholders' role in improving Ghana's construction safety

Health and safety (H&S) management has traditionally been the responsibility of the contractor. Most often, contractors are blamed for the accidents and other ill health that occur on their construction sites. H&S performance is, however, enhanced when there is effective collaboration between those involved in the construction process. This paper therefore explores the role of stakeholders in promoting construction H&S in Ghana through public works procurement. The four main stakeholders identified and evaluated in this study are the government, the client (employer), the contractor and the employee(s). Seven interviewees (comprising procurement managers, consultants and quantity surveyors) from public institutions in Ghana participated in the research. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and were thematically analysed. Results indicate a conflict in the perceived functions and relation of these stakeholders in the construction process. To address the constraint to improving construction H&S, certain recommendations are offered. These include the identification of specific individuals responsible for supervision and employee training, the development of H&S policies by the government and contracts that clearly outline the contractual obligations of all parties involved. Additionally, the specific roles and involvements of other stakeholders in the procurement process in improving construction H&S are also outlined

Estimating the potential biodiversity impact of redeveloping small urban spaces: the Natural History Museum’s grounds

The file attached is the Published/publisher’s pdf version of the article.Copyright 2017 Phillips et al. Distributed under Creative Commons CC-BY 4.

Flexible Working and Performance: A Systematic Review of the Evidence for a Business Case

Interest in the outcomes of flexible working arrangements dates from the mid 1970s, when researchers attempted to assess the impact of flexitime on worker performance. This paper reviews the literature on the link between flexible working arrangements and performance related outcomes. Taken together, the evidence fails to demonstrate a business case for the use of flexible working arrangements. This paper attempts to explain the findings by analysing the theoretical and methodological perspectives adopted, as well as the measurements and designs used. In doing so, gaps in this vast and disparate literature are identified and a research agenda is developed