Evaluating students' evaluations of professors

This paper contrasts measures of teacher effectiveness with the students’ evaluations of the same teachers using administrative data from Bocconi University (Italy). The effectiveness measures are estimated by comparing the subsequent performance in follow-on coursework of students who are randomly assigned to teachers in each of their compulsory courses. We find that, even in a setting where the syllabuses are fixed, teachers still matter substantially. Additionally, we find that our measure of teacher effectiveness is negatively correlated with the students’ evaluations of professors: in other words, teachers who are associated with better subsequent performance receive worse evaluations from their students. We rationalize these results with a simple model where teachers can either engage in real teaching or in teaching-to-the-test, the former requiring greater student effort than the latter. Teaching-to-the-test guarantees high grades in the current course but does not improve future outcomes. Hence, if students are short-sighted and give better evaluations to teachers from whom they derive higher utility in a static framework, the model is capable of predicting our empirical finding that good teachers receive bad evaluations.teacher quality, postsecondary education

Evaluating Students' Evaluations of Professors

This paper contrasts measures of teacher effectiveness with the students' evaluations for the same teachers using administrative data from Bocconi University (Italy). The effectiveness measures are estimated by comparing the subsequent performance in follow-on coursework of students who are randomly assigned to teachers in each of their compulsory courses. We find that, even in a setting where the syllabuses are fixed and all teachers in the same course present exactly the same material, teachers still matter substantially. The average difference in subsequent performance between students who were assigned to the best and worst teacher (on the effectiveness scale) is approximately 43% of a standard deviation in the distribution of exam grades, corresponding to about 5.6% of the average grade. Additionally, we find that our measure of teacher effectiveness is negatively correlated with the students' evaluations: in other words, teachers who are associated with better subsequent performance receive worst evaluations from their students. We rationalize these results with a simple model where teachers can either engage in real teaching or in teaching-to-the-test, the former requiring higher students’ effort than the latter. Teaching-to-the-test guarantees high grades in the current course but does not improve future outcomes. Hence, if students are myopic and evaluate better teachers from which they derive higher utility in a static framework, the model is capable of predicting our empirical finding that good teachers receive bad evaluations, especially when teaching-to-the-test is very effective (for example, with multiple choice tests). Consistently with the predictions of the model, we also find that classes in which high skill students are over-represented produce evaluations that are less at odds with estimated teacher effectiveness.teacher quality, postsecondary education

Performance based earthquake assessment of an industrial silos structure and retrofit with sliding isolators

Recent seismic events pointed out the high vulnerability of existing industrial facilities, stressing on safety and high losses inherent to interruption of economic activities and release of environmentally hazardous materials. These structures often have irregular geometry and structural configuration, are subject to aging and corrosion, and are designed without specific performance-based or seismic design criteria. Due to these inherent complexities, retrofit using friction isolators can be a viable and practical solution for performance improvements. This work presents a case study of irregular industrial storage plant structure consisting of a group of six elevated silos resting on a steel frame on one side and connected to a vaulted RC structure on the other. A computational model is built incorporating nonlinearities from the components (braces, beams, columns, etc.) and from the mitigation devices. Retrofit using friction isolators is analyzed and evaluated through linear and nonlinear dynamic analyses under a set of natural ground motions. Results show the effectiveness of the mitigation strategy in terms of performance improvement

Modelos e modelagem na sala de aula: refletindo sobre o processo de construção do conhecimento científico

Os modelos estão presentes dentro da ciência e dentro do ensino de ciências. Entretanto, a discussão mais aprofundada da realidade desses modelos assim como a sua construção estão afastados das aulas de ciências. Esse trabalho é uma atividade realizada na escola básica do Brasil para discutir os modelos e a modelagem dentro da ciência. A partir da elaboração de modelos foi realizada uma discussão sobre o Realismo e o Antirrealismo Científico

Personalization in BERT with Adapter Modules and Topic Modelling

As a result of the widespread use of intelligent assistants, personalization in dialogue systems has become a hot topic in both research and industry. Typically, training such systems is computationally expensive, especially when using recent large language models. To address this challenge, we develop an approach to personalize dialogue systems using adapter layers and topic modelling. Our implementation enables the model to incorporate user-specific information, achieving promising results by training only a small fraction of parameters

Abordagem cultural da física : discussão sobre o uso de linguagens diferenciadas no ensino de ciências

Este trabalho apresenta uma pesquisa desenvolvida com alunos de um curso de formação de professores sobre as possibilidades de abordar linguagens diferenciadas para tratar de temas metacientíficos. Para esse fim, foi propôs-se aos alunos a leitura do livro Cândido de Voltaire e de algumas Cartas Inglesas, com vistas a discutir a importância da obra de Newton sobre os contextos cultural e filosófico do século XVIII. A pesquisa permitiu perceber que o contato com uma abordagem cultural para a física newtoniana potencializa reflexões em torno ao conhecimento científico, de forma a destacar a ciência como produzida a partir do diálogo entre diferentes saberes. Dessa forma, a utilização de textos diferenciados permitiu que temas metacientíficos fossem trabalhados, tornando mais complexa a visão dos alunos

Problem-Based Learning and Engineering Education for Sustainability: Where we are and where could we go?

Education for sustainability demands transformative knowledge, which can be obtained through problem-based, project-organized learning (PBL). However, the integration of PBL and sustainability in higher education has not yet met the needs required due to the lack of application of a systemic perspective and strategy. In this literature review, we present an overview of research trends being developed with PBL in education for sustainability and how PBL is being used to educate students for sustainability. The scientific production of the last 22 years is analyzed, and we verify that the use of PBL as a methodology for education in sustainability is a rather recent innovation, with an emphasis on the environmental dimension. Learning assessment methodologies are based on summative approaches using traditional methods like scoring tests. There is an explicit preference to integrate PBL and sustainability in undergraduate and graduate courses, mainly in engineering. We observe that most of the time, the subject of interdisciplinarity is not discussed. We concluded that there are a few concerns with research on education for sustainability using PBL. Although PBL proposes an innovative form of education, its implementation in education for sustainability has not been fully explored to its full potential, especially concerning the development of sustainability skills, transformative and holistic education, but rather as a form of content-based assessment

Desafios para a educação num campo de refugiados

A partir de uma pesquisa exploratória no campo de refugiados de Dzaleka (Malawi), procurou-se analisar os desafios enfrentados pela educação de refugiados implementada tanto por organizações humanitárias como por ações organizadas pelos próprios refugiados. O primeiro desafio enfrentado é na pré-escola e ensino fundamental. Apesar do esforço que vem sendo realizado existe no Dzaleka um vácuo de atendimento à educação básica, com muitas crianças ainda não assistidas. O sistema possui um distanciamento entre a educação que vem sendo implementada pelas organizações humanitárias e aquelas organizados pelos próprios refugiados. Para além da educação básica, ainda existe o desafio da educação superior que vem sendo realizada por meio de plataformas digitais internacionais com cursos livres de formação profissional e poucos cursos de graduação. O terceiro e último desafio é a inserção dos refugiados na economia da região, ainda vetada pelo governo local. Grande parte dos problemas enfrentados no Dzaleka são idênticos aos diferentes campos suportados pelo ACNUR no mundo. A educação em contextos humanitários nos campos de refugiados do mundo necessita de soluções inovadores para que haja futuro para milhões de crianças e jovens