title: Academic tutors’ beliefs about and practices of giving feedback on students’ written assignments: A New Zealand case study

authors: Li, Jinrui

subjects: assessment

abstract: Teachers’ feedback on students’ written work is an important aspect of pedagogy. However, theoretical views differ on what constitutes ‘good’ feedback, both among applied linguists and academics in other disciplines. In-depth research needs to be carried out into the contextual difficulties of evaluating and assessing academic assignments, and the awarding of grades, especially by those who are relatively inexperienced in this work. This article reports aspects of a case study which explored the beliefs and practices of a group of untrained and inexperienced part-time tutors in a New Zealand university. Data were collected from a preliminary survey, individual interviews, ‘think aloud’ and stimulated recall sessions, and focus group meetings. Extracts from the collected data are presented and discussed. The findings indicate that these tutors initially stated their belief that the purpose of providing feedback was to assist the students to improve their academic writing skills; however, it emerged that their primary concern was to justify the grades that they awarded. It is suggested that using a multi-method approach to data collection can bridge the gap between theoretical perspectives on what constitutes ‘good’ feedback and what tutors actually believe and do in their everyday work.

text: Academic tutors’ beliefs about and practices of giving feedback on students’ written assignments: A New Zealand case study Teachers’ feedback on students’ written work is an important aspect of pedagogy. However, theoretical views differ on what constitutes ‘good’ feedback, both among applied linguists and academics in other disciplines. In-depth research needs to be carried out into the contextual difficulties of evaluating and assessing academic assignments, and the awarding of grades, especially by those who are relatively inexperienced in this work. This article reports aspects of a case study which explored the beliefs and practices of a group of untrained and inexperienced part-time tutors in a New Zealand university. Data were collected from a preliminary survey, individual interviews, ‘think aloud’ and stimulated recall sessions, and focus group meetings. Extracts from the collected data are presented and discussed. The findings indicate that these tutors initially stated their belief that the purpose of providing feedback was to assist the students to improve their academic writing skills; however, it emerged that their primary concern was to justify the grades that they awarded. It is suggested that using a multi-method approach to data collection can bridge the gap between theoretical perspectives on what constitutes ‘good’ feedback and what tutors actually believe and do in their everyday work.

year: 2011

title: Direct extrusion 3D printing for a softer PLA-based bio-polymer composite in pellet form

authors: Singamneni, Sarat

subjects: polymer composite

abstract: Fused deposition modelling is the most popular method of 3D printing with a variety of polymers, but the raw materials are commonly in the filament form. Research has demonstrated the ability to use pellets for this process, which are easier to produce than filaments. Apart from the savings on the pre-processing, the approach also combines the good attributes of both injection moulding and 3D printing and referred to as extrusion 3D printing. Direct printing of pellets is especially suited for thermosensitive polymers, with which, repeated or excessive heating may lead to degeneration. Also, polymers that are too soft do not qualify for filament-based extrusion. PLA is a popular choice for fused deposition modelling in the filament form but is often too brittle. A softer version of PLA composite based on PBAT and cellulose fibres is proposed here for 3D printing. Considering the lack of stiffness of the filaments, direct extrusion from pellet form is evaluated. Regardless of form, the polymer material system satisfied the stringent conditions of consolidation as dictated by the dynamic combination of extrusion and rasterised material deposition. Experimental evaluation based on meso-structural and mechanical property analyses indicate the new pellet-based material system to be suitable and to perform well. The novelty of the material and process combination is that the printed samples were actually comparable mechanically to the injection moulded counterparts, which is an extraordinary achievement, considering the shortcomings typical of material consolidation in additive manufacturing.

text: Direct extrusion 3D printing for a softer PLA-based bio-polymer composite in pellet form Fused deposition modelling is the most popular method of 3D printing with a variety of polymers, but the raw materials are commonly in the filament form. Research has demonstrated the ability to use pellets for this process, which are easier to produce than filaments. Apart from the savings on the pre-processing, the approach also combines the good attributes of both injection moulding and 3D printing and referred to as extrusion 3D printing. Direct printing of pellets is especially suited for thermosensitive polymers, with which, repeated or excessive heating may lead to degeneration. Also, polymers that are too soft do not qualify for filament-based extrusion. PLA is a popular choice for fused deposition modelling in the filament form but is often too brittle. A softer version of PLA composite based on PBAT and cellulose fibres is proposed here for 3D printing. Considering the lack of stiffness of the filaments, direct extrusion from pellet form is evaluated. Regardless of form, the polymer material system satisfied the stringent conditions of consolidation as dictated by the dynamic combination of extrusion and rasterised material deposition. Experimental evaluation based on meso-structural and mechanical property analyses indicate the new pellet-based material system to be suitable and to perform well. The novelty of the material and process combination is that the printed samples were actually comparable mechanically to the injection moulded counterparts, which is an extraordinary achievement, considering the shortcomings typical of material consolidation in additive manufacturing.

year: 2021

title: Claiming Spaces: Proceedings of the 2007 National Maori and Pacific Psychologies Symposium 23rd-24th November 2007

authors: Levy, Michelle Patricia

subjects: Maori

abstract: This is the full conference proceedings of Claiming Spaces: Proceedings of the 2007 National Maori and Pacific Psychologies Symposium 23rd-24th November 2007.

text: Claiming Spaces: Proceedings of the 2007 National Maori and Pacific Psychologies Symposium 23rd-24th November 2007 This is the full conference proceedings of Claiming Spaces: Proceedings of the 2007 National Maori and Pacific Psychologies Symposium 23rd-24th November 2007.

year: 2008