Problem-Based Learning as an Authentic Assessment Method

Traditional learning and assessment typically focus on students being told what to do, memorising it, and the teacher assigning a problem on how to use it (Savery, 2006). By contrast, in problem-based learning (PBL) and assessment a problem is assigned to a group or individual, the teacher then facilitates the students’ learning as they identify what they need to know, and the students learn and apply a solution to the problem (Savery, 2006). PBL was developed and pioneered by Barrows and Tamblyn in McMaster University as part of the Medical School programme due to students’ lack of application of their learning and disengagement with traditional teaching methods. Although primarily used in STEMM education, PBL has been found to be very effective in other areas of education and continues to be widely used in higher education (Dolmans et al., 2005). Given the evidence that PBL is an effective approach to learning, this report examines PBL as an alternative and more authentic assessment than the current exam-driven approach in a business school context. In this project, we examined three questions: (1) Is PBL an authentic assessment and alternative to the exam approach? (2) Does PBL help students in the development of DIT graduate attributes and research skills? (3) Is PBL useable and useful in the business school context? In analysing these three questions, we provide evidence based on the literature that PBL is an effective and authentic alternative to exam assessments and is adaptable to the business school context. In today’s ever changing and fast paced world, it is important that we have a learning approach and assessment that reflects the complexity of this new context (Awang & Ramly, 2008). Whilst exam-driven approaches focus on learning content, modern and novel approaches like PBL focus on both process and content. In doing so, students develop a more whole holistic approach to the topic that incorporates teamwork, originality and understanding. Similarly, in recent years, employers’ desired graduate attributes have shifted from specific to broader transferable skills such as communication skills, critical thinking, research skills etc. However, according to the World Economic Forum (2015), Ireland had lower percentages of critical thinking and creativity compared to other OECD countries. Thus, it is essential to develop a learning strategy that includes authentic assessment that is suitable and can adapt to the changing world of learning and work

Linked lives: the utility of an agent-based approach to modelling partnership and household formation in the context of social care

The UK’s population is aging, which presents a challenge as older people are the primary users of health and social care services. We present an agent-based model of the basic demographic processes that impinge on the supply of, and demand for, social care: namely mortality, fertility, health-status transitions, internal migration, and the formation and dissolution of partnerships and households. Agent-based modeling is used to capture the idea of “linked lives” and thus to represent hypotheses that are impossible to express in alternative formalisms. Simulation runs suggest that the per-taxpayer cost of state-funded social care could double over the next forty years. A key benefit of the approach is that we can treat the average cost of state-funded care as an outcome variable, and examine the projected effect of different sets of assumptions about the relevant social processes

Social Simulations: Improving Interdisciplinary Understanding of Scientific Positioning and Validity

Because of features that appear to be inherent in many social systems, modellers face complicated and subjective choices in positioning the scientific contribution of their research. This leads to a diversity of approaches and terminology, making interdisciplinary assessment of models highly problematic. Such modellers ideally need some kind of accessible, interdisciplinary framework to better understand and assess these choices. Existing texts tend either to take a specialised metaphysical approach, or focus on more pragmatic aspects such as the simulation process or descriptive protocols for how to present such research. Without a sufficiently neutral treatment of why a particular set of methods and style of model might be chosen, these choices can become entwined with the ideological and terminological baggage of a particular discipline. This paper attempts to provide such a framework. We begin with an epistemological model, which gives a standardised view on the types of validation available to the modeller, and their impact on scientific value. This is followed by a methodological framework, presented as a taxonomy of the key dimensions over which approaches are ultimately divided. Rather than working top-down from philosophical principles, we characterise the issues as a practitioner would see them. We believe that such a characterisation can be done 'well enough', where 'well enough' represents a common frame of reference for all modellers, which nevertheless respects the essence of the debate's subtleties and can be accepted as such by a majority of 'methodologists'. We conclude by discussing the limitations of such an approach, and potential further work for such a framework to be absorbed into existing, descriptive protocols and general social simulation texts.Social Simulation, Methodology, Epistemology, Ideology, Validation

The Potential Implications of Web-Based Marketing Communications for Consumers\u27 Implicit and Explicit Brand Attitudes: A Call for Research

Two developments in the last two decades frame the importance of Web-based marketing communications for firms. First is the phenomenal growth of the Internet as a viable commerce and communication option and second is the clear shift in attitude research toward recognizing the pervasive role of automatic processes in almost all the social psychological processes. Therefore, this article discusses the potential implications of Web-based marketing communications for consumers\u27 implicit and explicit attitudes. In doing so, first, this article reviews the emergence of research on implicit attitudes, distinguishes implicit attitudes from explicit attitudes, and discusses research on explicit and implicit attitudes relative to branding. Second, a brief discussion of marketing research on attitude is provided. Third, five empirically testable research propositions are developed and presented. Finally, given the potential implications for research and practice, the article concludes with a call for research. ©2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc