Purpose: The aim of this paper is to illustrate how universities play an institutional role in inflating student grade point averages (GPA) by modifying academic polices such as course withdraw, repeats, and satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade options. Design/methodology/approach: Three research strategies are employed: an examination of eight…

In this article the author asserts that learning is about personal growth and enrichment, and at its core it is not about career determinations. Good teachers nurture their students; they encourage them to pursue their dreams, and they find ways to stimulate curiosity and dedication to lifelong learning. They do not become teachers because of…

In the UK and elsewhere, large-scale educational assessment agencies are shifting the mode of school examination marking towards having examiners mark examination scripts on screen rather than on paper. This shift has prompted questions about whether the mode of marking might influence examiner marking accuracy, particularly in relation to…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of integrating blogging into the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum on students' performance in expressive writing. Previous studies have shown that integrating blogging into EFL learning raises students' motivation and develops their linguistic and social skills as a result of…

This data snapshot is a second report in a two-part series, "Newark Kids Count Data Snapshot: The Impact of COVID-19." In 2021, data releases from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as the U.S. Census Bureau, have demonstrated the ways in which college students have shifted their educational plans as a result of COVID-19. This…

It has been increasingly challenging to provide an introductory coverage of the rapidly expanding fields in Information Systems (IS). The task has been further complicated by the popularity of web resources and cloud services. A new generation of technically savvy learners, while recognizing the significance of information systems, expects…

In this paper we highlight teacher experiences of the administration of high-stakes testing, in particular, of the 2012 Annual National Assessments (ANAs). The exploration is based on data gathered across two primary numeracy teacher development projects in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng in the form of open-ended questionnaires designed to elicit…

Assessment is a delicate task in the overall teaching process because it may require significant time and may be prone to subjectivity. Subjectivity is especially true for disciplines in which perceptual factors play a key role in the evaluation. In previous decades, computer-based assessment techniques were developed to address the…

The purpose of this study was to examine how 52 pre-service teachers (PSTs) assessed 7th-grade students' learning of social studies lessons they planned and taught. The PSTs provided assessment artifacts on 312 students, along with explanations for how they assessed and graded each student. Of the 429 coded assessment explanations, 240 (56%)…

Learning to identify organisms is extraordinarily difficult, yet trained field biologists can quickly and easily identify organisms at a glance. They do this without recourse to the use of traditional characters or identification devices. Achieving this type of recognition accuracy is a goal of many courses in plant systematics. Teaching plant…

The National Senior Certificate or "matric" examination is a key point of access to further education and the labour market in South Africa. Since 1999, matric candidates whose first language is not Afrikaans or English and are, therefore, forced to write in a second or third language have received a compensation of five per cent of…

A writing-intensive, upper-level undergraduate course which integrates content, context, collaboration, and communication in a unique fashion, is described. The topic of the seminar is "Scientific Writing in Chemistry" and an assignment-based curriculum was developed to instruct students on best practices in all aspects of science…

Students express widespread dissatisfaction with academic feedback. Teaching staff perceive a frequent lack of student engagement with written feedback, much of which goes uncollected or unread. Published evidence shows that audio feedback is highly acceptable to students but is underused. This paper explores methods to produce and deliver audio…

The purpose of the study was to offer some quantitative, multivariate evidence concerning the impact of grading rubric use on academic outcome among American higher education students. Using a pre-post, quasi-experimental research design, cross-sectional data were derived from undergraduates enrolled in an elective during spring and fall 2009 at…

A common practice in medical education is to create a prescribed distribution of grades, or ratings, so that only a certain percentage of students receive the highest marks. This approach typically is employed to curb grade inflation and as a means to help faculty distinguish outstanding performers. Despite the well-intentioned reasoning for using…