Combining course- and program-level outcomes assessments through embedded performance assessments at key courses: A proposal based on the experience from a Japanese dental education program

This paper addresses how to combine the course- and program-level assessments and presents a new method illustrated by a case of dental education program in Japan. Performance assessments are considered effective for evaluating knowledge integration and higher-order skills, while placing a burden on faculty, hence their feasibility as the program-level assessment is regarded lower than standardized tests or questionnaire surveys. We have developed several performance assessments at the course level, such as Modified Triple Jump for the PBL course. Based on this experience, we propose Pivotal Embedded Performance Assessment (PEPA) as a method for combining assessment at the course and program levels. The method limits the range of performance assessment to key courses directly linked to program goals and placed at the critical juncture points of curriculum, while entrusting the assessment of other courses to expert judgment of individual teachers. PEPA consists of the following procedures: systematization of curriculum and selection of key courses; design and implementation of performance assessments by a faculty team; setting passing criteria with incorporating the function of formative assessment; certifying the completion of the degree program. PEPA thus enables maintaining assessment feasibility and compatibility with a credit system, while ensuring assessment validity and reliability.Received: 27 September 2018Accepted: 13 November 2018Published online: 29 November 2018</p

Using Rubric to Encourage Deep Learning for Undergraduate Students

平成26～27年度関西大学教育研究高度化促進

Association of Baseline Serum Levels of CXCL5 With the Efficacy of Nivolumab in Advanced Melanoma

Anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) antibodies are in wide use for the treatment of various cancers. PD1 antibody-based immunotherapy, co-administration of nivolumab and ipilimumab, is one of the optimal immunotherapies, especially in advanced melanoma with high tumor mutation burden. Since this combined therapy leads to a high frequency of serious immune-related adverse events (irAEs) in patients with advanced melanoma, biomarkers are needed to evaluate nivolumab efficacy to avoid serious irAEs caused by ipilimumab. This study analyzed baseline serum levels of CXCL5, CXCL10, and CCL22 in 46 cases of advanced cutaneous melanoma treated with nivolumab. Baseline serum levels of CXCL5 were significantly higher in responders than in non-responders. In contrast, there were no significant differences in baseline serum levels of CXCL10 and CCL22 between responders and non-responders. These results suggest that baseline serum levels of CXCL5 may be useful as a biomarker for identifying patients with advanced cutaneous melanoma most likely to benefit from anti-melanoma immunotherapy

Invasive behavior of ulcerative colitis-associated carcinoma is related to reduced expression of CD44 extracellular domain: comparison with sporadic colon carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To elucidate relations of invasion of ulcerative colitis (UC)-associated carcinoma with its prognosis, the characteristics of invasive fronts were analyzed in comparison with sporadic colonic carcinomas.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Prognoses of 15 cases of UC-associated colonic carcinoma were compared with those of sporadic colon carcinoma cases, after which 75 cases of sporadic invasive adenocarcinoma were collected. Tumor budding was examined histologically at invasive fronts using immunohistochemistry (IHC) of pancytokeratin. Expressions of beta-catenin with mutation analysis, CD44 extracellular domain, Zo-1, occludin, matrix matalloproteinase-7, laminin-5γ2, and sialyl Lewis X (Le^X) were immunohistochemically evaluated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>UC-associated carcinoma showed worse prognosis than sporadic colon carcinoma in all the cases, and exhibited a tendency to become more poorly differentiated when carcinoma invaded the submucosa or deeper layers than sporadic carcinoma. When the lesions were compared with sporadic carcinomas considering differentiation grade, reduced expression of CD44 extracellular domain in UC-associated carcinoma was apparent. Laminin-5γ2 and sialyl-Le^Xexpression showed a lower tendency in UC-associated carcinomas than in their sporadic counterparts. There were no differences in the numbers of tumor budding foci between the two lesion types, with no apparent relation to nuclear beta-catenin levels in IHC.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>UC-associated carcinoma showed poorer differentiation when the carcinoma invaded submucosa or deeper parts, which may influence the poorer prognosis. The invasive behavior of UC-associated carcinoma is more associated with CD44 cleavage than with basement membrane disruption or sialyl-Lewis-antigen alteration.</p

Serum Level of Soluble CD163 May Be a Predictive Marker of the Effectiveness of Nivolumab in Patients With Advanced Cutaneous Melanoma

Antibodies against programmed cell death protein 1, such as nivolumab and pembrolizumab, are widely used for treating various cancers, including advanced melanoma. Nivolumab significantly prolongs survival in patients with metastatic melanoma, and sequential administration with lipilimumab may improve outcomes when switched at the appropriate time. Biomarkers are therefore needed to evaluate nivolumab efficacy soon after first administration. This study analyzed serum levels of soluble cluster of differentiation 163 (sCD163) in 59 cases of advanced cutaneous melanoma and 16 cases of advanced mucosal melanoma treated using nivolumab. Serum levels of sCD163 were significantly increased after 6 weeks in responders compared to non-responders after initial administration of nivolumab for cutaneous melanoma. In contrast, no significant difference between responders and non-responders was seen among patients with non-cutaneous melanoma. These results suggest that sCD163 may be useful as a biomarker for selecting patients with advanced cutaneous melanoma most likely to benefit from anti-melanoma immunotherapy

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

教育方法学の拡張と危機 --教育心理学との対話の必要性--

準備委員会企画第60回記念シンポジウムシンポジウム全体の報告は、[安藤 寿康, 鹿毛 雅治, 市川 伸一, 松下 佳代, 木原 俊行, 志水 宏吉, 松浦 良充, 実学（サイヤンス）する教育心理学, 教育心理学年報, 2019, 58 巻, p. 226-235.] https://doi.org/10.5926/arepj.58.22

学習成果としての能力とその評価 --ルーブリックを用いた評価の可能性と課題--

後期近代社会への移行が本格化した1990 年代以降、期待される学習成果（目標）として能力を掲げ、その学習成果を評価することが、高等教育において重視されるようになってきた。本稿の目的は、ルーブリックを用いた評価に焦点をあてて、学習成果としての能力の評価の可能性と課題を明らかにすることにある。そのために本稿では、AAC&U（アメリカ大学・カレッジ協会）の提案した、目標としての「本質的学習成果」と、評価ツールとしての「VALUE ルーブリック」を取り上げて、それがわが国の学士課程教育に与える示唆を検討した。本質的学習成果では知識・理解と区別される重要な一般的能力（あるいはジェネリックスキル）が抽出され、VALUE ルーブリックはその評価のためのメタルーブリックを提供している。だが、その範囲は教養教育に限定されており、わが国の学士課程教育全体をカバーするものではない。本稿では、歯学教育でのPBL におけるルーブリック開発の事例を取り上げて、職業教育と結びついた専門教育の中で、問題解決という一般的能力がいかに具体化され、評価されうるかを例証した。Since the 1990s, when the characteristics of late modern society became evident, higher education institutions and organizations began to establish generic competences as expected learning outcomes (i.e., goals) and assess them. This study examines the potential and challenges of assessing competences as learning outcomes, focusing on rubric-based assessment. We investigated the Essential Learning Outcomes (ELO) as goals and the VALUE Rubrics as an assessment tool, both of which were proposed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), examining their implications for Japanese higher education. The ELO comprises important generic competences as well as disciplinary knowledge, and the VALUE Rubrics are designed as metarubrics to assess those competences. However, the ELO and the VALUE Rubrics cover only liberal education, not the full range of Japanese undergraduate education. Taking an example from a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) practice in a faculty of dentistry, we illustrated how problem solving competence is embodied in professional education as well as in liberal education and is assessed through rubrics localized for each discipline

日本の大学におけるコンピテンシー・ベース教育の現状と課題

2021年技術士全国大会（創立70周年記念）特集第4分科