Using a collaborative assessment design to support student learning

The purpose of the study was to try to develop an understanding of how groups of pre-service teachers organised, planned and built two information and communication technologies (ICT) resources using a learn-technology-by-design framework. The benefits for students in using a learn-by-design approach have been well researched, and the research has covered a broad range of research streams. A design-based research approach underpins the research. This paper presents the observational data, which was collected in an ICT in the Education unit of study. The collaborative design assessment provided pre-service teachers with the opportunity to collaboratively build an Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) resources and a web-based teaching (website) resource. In this study, seven groups were observed while they engaged in a long-term collaboration and completed two group assessment tasks. The results suggest that students needed both guidance and time to develop their skills in collaboration. While there were variations in the collaborative patterns, these variations did not impact the success of the groups in the development of their ICT resources

Reliability of Schmeling's stages of ossification of medial clavicular epiphyses and its validity to assess 18 years of age in living subjects

Nowadays, due to the global increase in migration movements, forensic age estimation of living young adults has become an important focus of interest. Minors often have no identification documents providing their correct birth dates. Establishing the age of majority is therefore fundamental in order to determine whether juvenile penal systems or penal systems in force for adults are to be applied. Radiological examination of the clavicles is one of the methods recommended by the Study Group on Forensic Age Diagnostics. In this retrospective study, a sample of chest radiographs of 274 subjects, aged between 12 and 25 years, was studied according to Schmeling's method in order to examine the ossification of both medial clavicular epiphyses. All stage classifications were evaluated by five examiners. Intra- and inter-examiner reliability was analysed by Cohen's K statistic. Intra-examiner agreement was insufficient for two of the experts. Inter-examiner agreement, among the other three operators, was moderate (K\u2009=\u20090.509). Study of reliability highlighted difficulties in interpretation, the need to select qualified personnel and choice of the best radiographic image in order to reduce any anatomic overlaps. Although ossification of the medial clavicular epiphyses is recommended to assess whether an individual has already reached the age of majority or not, these results suggested that it is very difficult to clearly identify the five stages of ossification by using conventional chest radiography