title: Investigating the feasibility of using digital representations of work for performance assessment in engineering

authors: Williams, P. John

subjects: digital assessment

abstract: This paper reports on the results of a 3-year study conducted at the Centre for Schooling and Learning Technologies (CSaLT) at Edith Cowan University in collaboration with the Curriculum Council of Western Australia which concerns the potential to use digital technologies to represent the output from assessment tasks in the senior secondary course, Engineering Studies. The general aim of this study is to explore the potential of various digitally-based forms for external assessment for senior secondary courses in terms of manageability, cost, validity and reliability. The problem being addressed was the need to provide students with assessment opportunities in new courses, that are on one hand authentic, where many outcomes do not lend themselves to being assessed using pen and paper over a three hour period, while on the other hand being able to be reliably and manageably assessed by external examiners. That is, the external assessment for a course needs to accurately and reliably assess the outcomes without a huge increase in the cost of assessment. A computer managed examination was designed that consisted of a design task that was broken down into a number of timed activities. Students were paced through each activity, recording their input in the form of a portfolio. Input consisted of text, graphics through a camera, video and voice. The exam outputs were uploaded to a online repository. The students’ work was marked by external assessors using a standards based rubric that allowed the students work to be ranked though Rasch Modelling.

text: Investigating the feasibility of using digital representations of work for performance assessment in engineering This paper reports on the results of a 3-year study conducted at the Centre for Schooling and Learning Technologies (CSaLT) at Edith Cowan University in collaboration with the Curriculum Council of Western Australia which concerns the potential to use digital technologies to represent the output from assessment tasks in the senior secondary course, Engineering Studies. The general aim of this study is to explore the potential of various digitally-based forms for external assessment for senior secondary courses in terms of manageability, cost, validity and reliability. The problem being addressed was the need to provide students with assessment opportunities in new courses, that are on one hand authentic, where many outcomes do not lend themselves to being assessed using pen and paper over a three hour period, while on the other hand being able to be reliably and manageably assessed by external examiners. That is, the external assessment for a course needs to accurately and reliably assess the outcomes without a huge increase in the cost of assessment. A computer managed examination was designed that consisted of a design task that was broken down into a number of timed activities. Students were paced through each activity, recording their input in the form of a portfolio. Input consisted of text, graphics through a camera, video and voice. The exam outputs were uploaded to a online repository. The students’ work was marked by external assessors using a standards based rubric that allowed the students work to be ranked though Rasch Modelling.

year: 2012

title: Prolactin delays hair regrowth in mice

authors: Craven, A.J.

abstract: Mammalian hair growth is cyclic, with hair-producing follicles alternating between active (anagen) and quiescent (telogen) phases. The timing of hair cycles is advanced in prolactin receptor (PRLR) knockout mice, suggesting that prolactin has a role in regulating follicle cycling. In this study, the relationship between profiles of circulating prolactin and the first post-natal hair growth cycle was examined in female Balb/c mice. Prolactin was found to increase at 3 weeks of age, prior to the onset of anagen 1 week later. Expression of PRLR mRNA in skin increased fourfold during early anagen. This was followed by upregulation of prolactin mRNA, also expressed in the skin. Pharmacological suppression of pituitary prolactin advanced dorsal hair growth by 3.5 days. Normal hair cycling was restored by replacement with exogenous prolactin for 3 days. Increasing the duration of prolactin treatment further retarded entry into anagen. However, prolactin treatments, which began after follicles had entered anagen at 26 days of age, did not alter the subsequent progression of the hair cycle. Skin from PRLR-deficient mice grafted onto endocrine-normal hosts underwent more rapid hair cycling than comparable wild-type grafts, with reduced duration of the telogen phase. These experiments demonstrate that prolactin regulates the timing of hair growth cycles in mice via a direct effect on the skin, rather than solely via the modulation of other endocrine factors.

text: Prolactin delays hair regrowth in mice Mammalian hair growth is cyclic, with hair-producing follicles alternating between active (anagen) and quiescent (telogen) phases. The timing of hair cycles is advanced in prolactin receptor (PRLR) knockout mice, suggesting that prolactin has a role in regulating follicle cycling. In this study, the relationship between profiles of circulating prolactin and the first post-natal hair growth cycle was examined in female Balb/c mice. Prolactin was found to increase at 3 weeks of age, prior to the onset of anagen 1 week later. Expression of PRLR mRNA in skin increased fourfold during early anagen. This was followed by upregulation of prolactin mRNA, also expressed in the skin. Pharmacological suppression of pituitary prolactin advanced dorsal hair growth by 3.5 days. Normal hair cycling was restored by replacement with exogenous prolactin for 3 days. Increasing the duration of prolactin treatment further retarded entry into anagen. However, prolactin treatments, which began after follicles had entered anagen at 26 days of age, did not alter the subsequent progression of the hair cycle. Skin from PRLR-deficient mice grafted onto endocrine-normal hosts underwent more rapid hair cycling than comparable wild-type grafts, with reduced duration of the telogen phase. These experiments demonstrate that prolactin regulates the timing of hair growth cycles in mice via a direct effect on the skin, rather than solely via the modulation of other endocrine factors.

year: 2006

title: Bilingual Education in Aotearoa/New Zealand

authors: Hill, Richard Kenneth

subjects: Maori medium

abstract: Bilingual education in the context of New Zealand is now over 30 years old. The two largest linguistic minority groups involved in this type of education – the Indigenous Māori and Pasifika peoples of Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands and Niuean and Tokelauan backgrounds – have made many gains but have struggled in a national context where minority languages have low status. Māori bilingual programs are well established and have made a significant contribution towards reducing Māori language shift that in the 1970s looked to be beyond regeneration. Pasifika bilingual education by contrast is not widely available and not well resourced by the New Zealand government. Both forms continue to need support and a renewed focus at local and national levels.

This chapter provides an overview of past development of Māori and Pasifika bilingual education and present progress. For Māori, the issues relate primarily to how to boost language regeneration, particularly between the generations. Gaining greater support for immersion programs and further strengthening bilingual education pedagogies, particularly relating to achieving biliteracy objectives, are key. In the context of Pasifika, extending government and local support would not only safeguard the languages but has the potential to counteract long-established patterns of low Pasifika student achievement in mainstream/English-medium schooling contexts. Finally, the future of both forms of bilingual education can be safeguarded if they are encompassed within a national languages policy that ensures minority language development in the predominantly English monolingual national context of New Zealand.

text: Bilingual Education in Aotearoa/New Zealand Bilingual education in the context of New Zealand is now over 30 years old. The two largest linguistic minority groups involved in this type of education – the Indigenous Māori and Pasifika peoples of Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands and Niuean and Tokelauan backgrounds – have made many gains but have struggled in a national context where minority languages have low status. Māori bilingual programs are well established and have made a significant contribution towards reducing Māori language shift that in the 1970s looked to be beyond regeneration. Pasifika bilingual education by contrast is not widely available and not well resourced by the New Zealand government. Both forms continue to need support and a renewed focus at local and national levels.

This chapter provides an overview of past development of Māori and Pasifika bilingual education and present progress. For Māori, the issues relate primarily to how to boost language regeneration, particularly between the generations. Gaining greater support for immersion programs and further strengthening bilingual education pedagogies, particularly relating to achieving biliteracy objectives, are key. In the context of Pasifika, extending government and local support would not only safeguard the languages but has the potential to counteract long-established patterns of low Pasifika student achievement in mainstream/English-medium schooling contexts. Finally, the future of both forms of bilingual education can be safeguarded if they are encompassed within a national languages policy that ensures minority language development in the predominantly English monolingual national context of New Zealand.

year: 2017