Improving the assessment of transferable skills in chemistry through evaluation of current practice

The development and assessment of transferable skills acquired by students, such as communication and teamwork, within undergraduate degrees is being increas-ingly emphasised. Many instructors have designed and implemented assessment tasks with the aim to provide students with opportunities to acquire and demon-strate these skills. We have now applied our previously published tool to evaluate whether assessment tasks allow students to demonstrate achievement of these transferable skills. The tool allows detailed evaluation of the alignment of any as-sessment item against the claimed set of learning outcomes. We present here two examples in which use of the tool provides evidence for the level of achievement of transferable skills and a further example of use of the tool to inform curricu-lum design and pedagogy, with the goal of increasing achievement of communi-cation and teamwork bench marks. Implications for practice in assessment design for learning are presented

Does the use of summative peer assessment in collaborative group work inhibit good judgement?

The accuracy and consistency of peer marking, particularly when students have the power to reward (or penalise) during formative and summative assessment regimes, is largely unknown. The objective of this study is to evaluate students’ ability and behaviour in marking their peers’ teamwork performance in a collaborative group assessment context both when the mark is counted and not counted towards their final grade. Formative and summative assessment data were obtained from 98 participants in anonymous self and peer assessment of team members’ contributions to a group assessment in business courses. The findings indicate that students are capable of accurately and consistently judging their peers’ performance to a large extent, especially in the formative evaluation of the process component of group work. However, the findings suggest significant peer grading bias when peer marks contribute to final grades. Overall, findings suggest that students are reluctant to honestly assess their peers when they realise that their actions can penalise non-contributing students. This raises questions about the appropriateness of using peer marks for summative assessment purposes. To overcome the problems identified, this paper proposes a number of measures to guide educators in effectively embedding summative peer assessment in a group assessment contex

Genetic Regulation of T Regulatory, CD4, and CD8 Cell Numbers by the Arthritis Severity Loci Cia5a, Cia5d, and the MHC/Cia1 in the Rat

T cells have a central role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune arthritis, and several abnormalities in T cell homeostasis have been described in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We hypothesized that T cell phenotypes, including frequencies of different subsets of T regulatory (Treg) cells and in vitro functional responses could be genetically determined. Furthermore, we considered that the genetic contribution would be accounted for by one of the arthritis regulatory quantitative trait loci (QTL), thus providing novel clues to gene mode of action. T cells were isolated from thymus, peripheral blood, and spleen from DA (arthritis-susceptible) and ACI and F344 (arthritis-resistant) strains and from F344.DA(Cia1), DA.F344(Cia5a), and DA.F344(Cia5d) rats congenic for arthritis QTL. T cell subpopulations differed significantly between DA, F344, and ACI. DA rats had an increased frequency of CD4+ cells, and a reduction in CD8+ and CD4+CD45RC|o Treg cells, compared with F344. The differences in CD4/CD8 and CD4+CD45RC|o Treg cells were accounted for by Cia5a. DA rats also had a reduced frequency of CD8+CD45RC|o CD25+ Treg cells compared with F344, and that difference was explained by Cia5d. DA rats also had a significantly lower frequency of CD4+CD25+ and CD8+CD25+ thymocytes, and of peripheral blood CD8+CD45RC|o Treg cells, compared with F344 rats, and that difference was accounted for by the MHC. This is the first identification of arthritis severity QTL regulating numbers of CD4+CD45RC|o (Cia5a) and CD8+CD45RC|o CD25+ (Cia5d) Treg cells. The MHC effect on CD8+ Treg cells and CD25+ thymocytes raises a novel potential explanation for its association with arthritis