The Australian Research Quality Framework: A live experiment in capturing the social, economic, environmental, and cultural returns of publicly funded research

Copyright @ 2008 Wiley Periodicals Inc. This is the accepted version of the following article: Donovan, C. (2008), The Australian Research Quality Framework: A live experiment in capturing the social, economic, environmental, and cultural returns of publicly funded research. New Directions for Evaluation, 2008: 47–60, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ev.260/abstract.The author regards development of Australia's ill-fated Research Quality Framework (RQF) as a “live experiment” in determining the most appropriate approach to evaluating the extra-academic returns, or “impact,” of a nation's publicly funded research. The RQF was at the forefront of an international movement toward richer qualitative, contextual approaches that aimed to gauge the wider economic, social, environmental, and cultural benefits of research. Its construction and implementation sent mixed messages and created confusion about what impact is, and how it is best measured, to the extent that this bold live experiment did not come to fruition

International student survey 2014

Introduction This report documents research into the experiences of international students studying in Australia. The survey sought responses from international students studying onshore in the higher  ducation, vocational education and training (VET) and English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas (ELICOS) Students sectors, using the International Student Barometer (ISB) survey instrument. A separate survey instrument was used to seek responses from international students aged 16 years or over studying in Australian secondary schools in years 11 and 12. The 2014 International Student Survey (ISS) follows equivalent surveys conducted in Australia in 2012 and 2010. This 2014 overview report focuses on the satisfaction levels reported by respondents against a number of key indicators. In addition, high-level comparisons are made with 2014 international benchmarks obtained from use of the ISB survey instrument in other major destination countries for international students. Hence the report not only provides information about international students’ experience in Australia, but also how their experience compares to international students studying elsewhere in the world

The standard error of measurement is a more appropriate measure of quality for postgraduate medical assessments than is reliability: an analysis of MRCP(UK) examinations

Background: Cronbach's alpha is widely used as the preferred index of reliability for medical postgraduate examinations. A value of 0.8-0.9 is seen by providers and regulators alike as an adequate demonstration of acceptable reliability for any assessment. Of the other statistical parameters, Standard Error of Measurement (SEM) is mainly seen as useful only in determining the accuracy of a pass mark. However the alpha coefficient depends both on SEM and on the ability range (standard deviation, SD) of candidates taking an exam. This study investigated the extent to which the necessarily narrower ability range in candidates taking the second of the three part MRCP(UK) diploma examinations, biases assessment of reliability and SEM.Methods: a) The interrelationships of standard deviation (SD), SEM and reliability were investigated in a Monte Carlo simulation of 10,000 candidates taking a postgraduate examination. b) Reliability and SEM were studied in the MRCP(UK) Part 1 and Part 2 Written Examinations from 2002 to 2008. c) Reliability and SEM were studied in eight Specialty Certificate Examinations introduced in 2008-9.Results: The Monte Carlo simulation showed, as expected, that restricting the range of an assessment only to those who had already passed it, dramatically reduced the reliability but did not affect the SEM of a simulated assessment. The analysis of the MRCP(UK) Part 1 and Part 2 written examinations showed that the MRCP(UK) Part 2 written examination had a lower reliability than the Part 1 examination, but, despite that lower reliability, the Part 2 examination also had a smaller SEM (indicating a more accurate assessment). The Specialty Certificate Examinations had small Ns, and as a result, wide variability in their reliabilities, but SEMs were comparable with MRCP(UK) Part 2.Conclusions: An emphasis upon assessing the quality of assessments primarily in terms of reliability alone can produce a paradoxical and distorted picture, particularly in the situation where a narrower range of candidate ability is an inevitable consequence of being able to take a second part examination only after passing the first part examination. Reliability also shows problems when numbers of candidates in examinations are low and sampling error affects the range of candidate ability. SEM is not subject to such problems; it is therefore a better measure of the quality of an assessment and is recommended for routine use

Force monitor for training manual skills in the training of chiropractors

As part of their training, students of Chiropractic Medicine at Zürich are trained to acquire and then improve their manual and manipulative skills, especially their ability to deliver manipulative thrusts with a defined preloading force, an impulse that is delivered with an adequate and reproducible force within a defined time without letting up on the preload-pressure. In order to facilitate this process, objective feedback is paramount. This led to the idea of developing a force-measurement and -monitoring system. The newly developed system consists of a wireless device with a force sensor and an app that is running on standard smartphones. The device records the force applied to the sensor and transmits it via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to the app. There it is visualised as a graph and can be evaluated. The system allows us to provide all students with a tool to develop their manual skills, and especially their thrusting technique. As the feedback given by the system can be record ed, progress can be monitored and students can be mentored accurately according to their strengths and weaknesses

La posición de las instituciones de educación superior ante el avance del periodismo digital

Starting from a PhD research paper presented at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid which considers that the education of journalists in Latin America is still at an early stage, the following hypothesis was raised: “Institutions of higher education in Argentina should redesign their curricula in pursuit of a gradual inclusion of related contents to the training in Digital Journalism”. The factis that however there is a significant development of online media, there is no comprehensive training in this branch of journalism matching such an evolution. Hence, we made a descriptive analysis of the front pages of two digital newspapers in our country, Clarín and La Nación¸ since their launching (1995/1996) till present (2015), with the aim of observing their evolution as regards design and content. Likewise, we carried out a diagnosis of the situation of the existing curricula, which include contents about Digital Journalism, at schools of communication of the most important Argentine universities. Besides, we conducted interviews to teachers who are in charge of lecturing subjects related to contents about Digital Journalism. And, in the wake of noticing how much trained graduates in Journalism are when they join newsrooms 2.0, we interviewed Digital Journalism experts in full exercise of their profession.The raised hypothesis revealed that Argentine universities are at an early stage in teachingCiberjournalism. Subjects on Online Journalism and those including in their syllabi contents related to Journalism 2.0 were incorporated after the last reform of the curricula, dating several years back. Teachers do not count with enough theoretical background for the preparation of their classes, having to base their pedagogical contents on research papers carried out mainly in Europe.Therefore, Schools of Communication which include in their curricula contents on Digital Journalism should make a review thereof, analyze what the demand from the media is and wonder if they are really training the kind of journalists those media need.It was possible to verify the raised hypothesis: schools of Communication that include in their curricula contents about Digital Journalism should make a revision of those contents, do a thorough analysis about which the demand from the media is and wonder if they are really training the kind of qualified journalists those media need. Though it is impossible and even utopian to consider that the curricula should follow such a dizzy rhythm of progress as that of online journalism, it is undeniable there is an urgent need of adapting the curricula with which future journalists are trained to this new digital era in an integral way rather than after the old fashioned vision of communicating knowledge as watertight compartments.A partir de un estudio de doctorado de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid en el que se postula que la formación del periodista en América Latina aún está en una etapa prematura, se planteó la siguiente hipótesis: las instituciones educativas de nivel superior en la Argentina deben reformular sus planes de estudio en pos de una inclusión paulatina de contenidos afines a la formación en Periodismo Digital. Pese a que se observa un gran desarrollo de los medios online, no existe una formación exhaustiva de esta rama del periodismo que se condiga con dicha evolución. Por lo tanto, se realizó un análisis descriptivo de las portadas de dos diarios digitales, Clarín y La Nación, desde su lanzamiento (1995/1996) hasta la actualidad (2015), con el fin de observar su evolución en cuanto a diseño y contenido. Asimismo, se efectuó un diagnóstico de la situación de los planes de estudio que incluían contenidos sobre Periodismo Digital, en facultades de Comunicación de las universidades argentinas más importantes. Además, se desarrollaron entrevistas a docentes que dictan materias relacionadas con contenidos sobre Periodismo 2.0. En pos de observar cuán preparados se encuentran los egresados de Periodismo al ingresar en las redacciones 2.0, se entrevistó a profesionales del PeriodismoDigital que ejercen la profesión. En cuanto a la hipótesis planteada, se logró verificar que las universidades argentinas se encuentran en su fase inicial en la enseñanza del Ciberperiodismo. Las materias sobre Periodismo Online y aquellas que incluyen en sus programas temas vinculados al desarrollo del periodismo 2.0 fueron incorporadas en la última reforma de los planes de estudio, que datan de varios años. Los docentesno cuentan con suficiente marco teórico para la preparación de sus clases, motivo por el cual basan sus contenidos pedagógicos en trabajos de investigación realizados sobre todo en Europa. Por lo tanto, las facultades de Comunicación que incluyen en sus planes de estudio contenidos sobre Periodismo Digital deben revisarlos, hacer un análisis sobre cuál es la demanda de los medios y preguntarse si realmente están formando los periodistas que estos medios necesitan. Aunque es imposible y hasta utópico considerar que los planes de estudio sigan el ritmo vertiginoso del avance del Ciberperiodismo, es innegable la necesidad urgente de adaptar los planes de estudio que preparana los futuros periodistas para esta nueva era digital de forma integral, y no bajo la vieja visión de impartir conocimientos como compartimentos estancos