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Purpose This study aims to report the design, development and evaluation of a digital quality assurance application aimed at improving and ensuring the quality of assessment programmes in higher education. Design/methodology/approach The application was developed using a design-based research (DBR) methodology. The application’s design was informed by a literature search and needs assessment of quality assurance stakeholders to ensure compliance with daily practices and accreditation requirements. Stakeholders from three study programmes evaluated the application. Findings As part of the development of the application, module- and programme-level dashboards were created to provide an overview of the programme’s outcomes, assessment methods, assessment metrics, self-evaluated quality indicators and assessment documents. The application was evaluated by stakeholders at the module and programme levels. Overall, the results indicated that the dashboards aided them in gaining insight into the assessment programme and its alignment with underlying assessments. Practical implications Visualisation of the assessment programme’s structure and content identifies gaps and opportunities for improvement, which can be used to initiate a dialogue and further actions to improve assessment quality. Originality/value The application developed facilitates a cyclical and transparent assessment quality assurance procedure that is continuously available to various stakeholders in quality assurance.

In many schools and higher education institutions it has become common practice to shareassessment criteria with students. Sometimes it is required for accountability purposes, at othertimes criteria are used as ameans to communicate expectations to students. Although it is generallyand widely accepted that explicit assessment criteria should be shared with students, challengesto that assumption have been made. On the one hand, research has shown that explicit criteriamay positively affect student performance, reduce their anxiety, as well as support students’ useof self-regulated learning strategies. On the other hand, there are fears that explicit criteria mayhave a restraining influence on students’ learning, as well as limiting their autonomy and creativity.Taken together, the question guiding this Research Topic is when, and under which conditions,transparency in assessment is productive for learning. The contributions to this Research Topicvary from conceptual approaches to more empirical oriented intervention studies.

How can feedback dialogues stimulate students' reflective thinking? This study aims to investigate: (1) the effects of feedback dialogues between teachers and students on students' perceptions of teacher feedback and (2) the relation between features of feedback dialogues and students' thinking activities as part of reflective thinking. A quasi-experiment was carried out in which 72 secondary education students received written teacher feedback. Half of them had an additional feedback dialogue with their teacher. The latter group perceived teachers' feedback as more useful than the group without a dialogue. The feedback dialogues could be clustered in 2 groups that varied in the number of segments containing teacher and student interaction. The number of segments containing interaction was positively correlated with students' use of thinking activities.

Kwaliteit van toetsing is niet alleen belangrijk voor afzonderlijke toetsen, maar ook voor toetsprogramma’s. Een toetsprogramma is een bewust samengestelde combinatie van toetsvormen, passend bij de doelen, inhoud, opbouw en structuur van het curriculum. Kwaliteit van toetsprogramma’s is belangrijk omdat high stakes beslissingen alleen op een valide en betrouwbare manier kunnen worden genomen als ze zijn gebaseerd op informatie uit meerdere toetsmomenten in een samenhangend toetsprogramma. In dit hoofdstuk wordt beschreven wat toetsprogramma’s zijn, waarom validiteit, betrouwbaarheid en leereffect (ook) voor toetsprogramma’s belangrijk zijn, en hoe toetsprogramma’s kunnen worden geevalueerd.

The chapter describes five examples of dedicated faculty development trajectories for educational leadership in research-intensive universities, focusing on their nature and effects. After discussing and elaborating on the concept of ‘educational leadership’, the chapter portrays and compares professional development trajectories for educational leadership in five research-intensive universities: the universities of Edinburgh, Lund, Oslo, Copenhagen, and Utrecht. Through analysing similarities and differences between the initiatives, different pathways towards educational leadership are outlined, although they all can be said to support educational leaders. As such, the chapter provides insights and lessons for those interested in systematic development of the next generation of educational leaders.

This study investigated the effects of feedback providing improvement strategies and a reflection assignment on students’ writing motivation, process, and performance. Students in the experimental feedback condition (n = 41) received feedback including improvement strategies, whereas students in the control feedback condition (n = 41) received feedback without improvement strategies. Within each feedback condition, half of the students received a reflection assignment on feedback use and the revision (experimental reflection condition), while the other half received a reflection assignment on feedback perception (control reflection condition). Results indicated that in the experimental feedback condition writing performance gained from the control reflection assignment, while in the control feedback condition it gained from the experimental reflection assignment. Improvement strategies negatively predicted self-efficacy beliefs, especially when initial self-efficacy beliefs were low, and positively predicted planning/revising. Reflections on feedback use and the revision positively predicted mastery goal when mastery goal initially was low or moderate.

Item does not contain fulltext The goal of this article is to contribute to the validation of a self-evaluation method, which can be used by schools to evaluate the quality of their Competence Assessment Program (CAP). The outcomes of the self-evaluations of two schools are systematically compared: a novice school with little experience in competence-based education and assessment, and an innovative school with extensive experience. The self-evaluation was based on 12 quality criteria for CAPs, including both validity and reliability, and criteria stressing the importance of the formative function of assessment, such as meaningfulness and educational consequences. In each school, teachers, management and examination board participated. Results show that the two schools use different approaches to assure assessment quality. The innovative school seems to be more aware of its own strengths and weaknesses, to have a more positive attitude towards teachers, students, and educational innovations, and to explicitly involve stakeholders (i.e., teachers, students, and the work field) in their assessments. This school also had a more explicit vision of the goal of competence-based education and could design its assessments in accordance with these goals. 01 augustus 2011

The effects of progress feedback on university students' writing mastery goal, self-efficacy beliefs, and writing performance were examined in this experiment. Students in the experimental condition (n = 42) received progress feedback on their writing assignment, whereas students in the control condition (n = 44) received feedback without progress information. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was used to measure students' writing mastery goal and self-efficacy beliefs. Results showed that progress feedback did not affect students' writing mastery goal and performance but did affect students' self-efficacy beliefs. The effect depended on the number of progress comments.

Nievelstein, F., Van Gog, T., Boshuizen, H. P. A., & Prins, F. J. (2008). Expertise-related differences in conceptual and ontological knowledge in the legal domain. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 20, 1043–1064.

Due to the complexity of the legal domain, reasoning about law cases is a very complex skill. For novices in law school, legal reasoning is even more complex because they have not yet acquired the conceptual knowledge needed for distilling the relevant information from cases, determining applicable rules, and searching for rules and exceptions in external information sources such as lawbooks. This study investigated the role of conceptual knowledge in solving legal cases when no information sources can be used. Under such ‘unsupported’ circumstances, novice and advanced students performed less well than domain experts, but even experts’ performance was rather low. The second question addressed was whether novices even benefit from the availability of information sources (i.e., lawbook), because conceptual knowledge is prerequisite for effective use of such sources. Indeed availability of the lawbook positively affected performance only for advanced students but not for novice students. Implications for learning and instruction in the domain of law are discussed.

This article describes a blueprint for an online learning environment that is based on prominent instructional design and assessment theories for supporting learning in complex domains. The core of this environment consists of formative assessment tasks (i.e., assessment for learning) that center on professional situations. For each professional situation, three levels of situational complexity are defined, and within each of these three levels, tasks are offered that differ in the degree of support offered to the learner. This environment can support (beginning) professionals in complex domains in gaining insight into the available repertoire of behavior in professional situations, as well as into the quality and effectiveness of that behavior (assessment criteria), while simultaneously helping them to develop insight into the standards that their own behavior should (eventually) match.

As assessment methods are changing, the way to determine their quality needs to be changed accordingly. This article argues for the use Competences Assessment Programs (CAPs), combinations of traditional tests and new assessment methods which involve both formative and summative assessments. To assist schools in evaluating their CAPs, a self-evaluation procedure was developed, based on 12 quality criteria for CAPs developed in earlier studies. A self-evaluation was chosen as it is increasingly used as an alternative to external evaluation. The CAP self-evaluation is carried out by a group of functionaries from the same school and comprises individual self-evaluations and a group interview. The CAP is rated on the 12 quality criteria and a piece of evidence is asked for to support these ratings. In this study, three functionaries from eight schools (N = 24) evaluated their CAP using the self-evaluation procedure. Results show that the group interview was very important as different perspectives on the CAP are assembled here into an overall picture of the CAP’s quality. Schools seem to use mainly personal experiences to support their ratings and need to be supported in the process of carrying out a self-evaluation.

Lin et al. generate Plasmodium berghei mutants lacking enzymes critical to hemoglobin digestion. A double gene deletion mutant lacking enzymes involved in the initial steps of hemoglobin proteolysis is able to replicate inside reticulocytes of infected mice with limited hemoglobin degradation and no hemozoin formation, and moreover, is resistant to the antimalarial drug chloroquine., Most studies on malaria-parasite digestion of hemoglobin (Hb) have been performed using P. falciparum maintained in mature erythrocytes, in vitro. In this study, we examine Plasmodium Hb degradation in vivo in mice, using the parasite P. berghei, and show that it is possible to create mutant parasites lacking enzymes involved in the initial steps of Hb proteolysis. These mutants only complete development in reticulocytes and mature into both schizonts and gametocytes. Hb degradation is severely impaired and large amounts of undigested Hb remains in the reticulocyte cytoplasm and in vesicles in the parasite. The mutants produce little or no hemozoin (Hz), the detoxification by-product of Hb degradation. Further, they are resistant to chloroquine, an antimalarial drug that interferes with Hz formation, but their sensitivity to artesunate, also thought to be dependent on Hb degradation, is retained. Survival in reticulocytes with reduced or absent Hb digestion may imply a novel mechanism of drug resistance. These findings have implications for drug development against human-malaria parasites, such as P. vivax and P. ovale, which develop inside reticulocytes.

A General Practitioner (GP) is no longer a loner, but a team player in either a group practice or a care centre. This change has led to a concomitant growth in curricular interest in skills essential for successful collaboration and for enhancing critical reflection towards colleagues' performance. Giving and receiving constructive feedback are examples of these skills. The aim of this study was to gain insight in the style and quality of feedback reports on consultation skills written by GPs-in-Training (GPiTs) and by their GP-trainers. Furthermore, the preferences of the GPiTs concerning feedback style were examined. Results show significant differences between GP-trainers and GPiTs in feedback style and quality. A ranking task indicated that GPiTs have a preference for reports characterised by a large number of reflective remarks. Questionnaire results indicate the added value of the use of peer feedback. Implications for the integration of peer feedback activities in the curriculum of GPiTs are discussed.

Sluijsmans, D. M. A., & Prins, F. (2006). A conceptual framework for integrating peer assessment in teacher education. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 32, 6-22.

In this case study our aim was to gain more insight in the possibilities of qualitative formative peer assessment in a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. An approach was chosen in which peer assessment was operationalized in assessment assignments and assessment tools that were embedded in the course material. The course concerned a higher education case-based virtual seminar, in which students were asked to conduct research and write a report in small multidisciplinary teams. The assessment assignments contained the discussion of assessment criteria, the assessment of a group report of a fellow group and writing an assessment report. A list of feedback rules was one of the assessment tools. A qualitative oriented study was conducted, focusing on the attitude of students towards peer assessment and practical use of peer assessment assignments and tools. Results showed that students' attitude towards peer assessment was positive and that assessment assignments had added value. However, not all students fulfilled all assessment assignments. Recommendations for implementation of peer assessment in CSCL environments as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.

Higher education institutions aim for deep learning and are increasingly providing their education through an online medium. SPOCs are a specific form of online education that has rapidly grown in the last decade. In this study, 11 SPOC instructors have been interviewed about the challenges they face when the aim is to promote deep learning. Five main challenges in achieving deep learning in SPOCs were identified: 1) Alignment in learning activities, 2) Insight into students' needs, 3) Adaptivity in teaching strategy, 4) Social cohesion and 5) Creating dialogue. These results indicate that SPOCs have distinctive challenges compared to other forms of online education. Instructors may have to place more emphasis on the social and teaching activities compared to the cognitive activities of the course. Instructors can take the results into account while developing and teaching SPOCs. Consequently, it shows the need for training in how to design and teach SPOCs.

The aim of this study was to examine the role of metacognitive skillfulness and intellectual ability during initial inductive learning with a complex computer simulation. It was hypothesized that adequate learning behavior and performance is initiated by a high quality of metacognitive skillfulness. Theories proposed by Elshout [Elshout, J. J. (1987). Problem solving and education. In E. de Corte, H. Lodewijks, R. Parmetier, & P. Span (Eds.), Learning and instruction (pp. 259–271). Oxford: Pergamon Books Ltd. Leuven: University Press] and Raaheim [Raaheim, K. (1988). Intelligence and task novelty. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Advances in the psychology of human intelligence (Vol. 4; pp. 73–97). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum] predict that the impact of intellectual ability on learning performance is at most moderate during initial inductive learning. Students with a low or high intellectual ability were asked to induce rules of optics by conducting experiments with lights and lenses in a computerized Optics Lab. Learning performance was assessed using both qualitative and quantitative measures. Results showed that metacognitive skillfulness was positively related to learning behavior and to scores on the qualitative tests. As predicted by Elshout (1987) and Raaheim [1988; Raaheim, K. (1991). Is the high IQ person really in trouble? Why? In H. A. H. Rowe (Ed.), Intelligence: reconceptualization and measurement (pp. 35–46). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum], the impact of intellectual ability on learning performance was moderate during initial inductive learning. Metacognitive skillfulness and intellectual ability appeared to be unrelated. This study shows that during initial inductive learning with a complex computer simulation learners draw heavily on their metacognitive skillfulness, which results mainly in qualitative knowledge. Consequently, complex computer-simulated learning environments are only appropriate for novice learners with high metacognitive skillfulness.

This study is directed towards an integration of intellectual ability, learning style, personality and achievement motivation as predictors of academic success in higher education. Correlational analyses partly confirmed and partly disconfirmed our expectations in a sample of 409 first-year psychology students. Consistent with the literature, intellectual ability and achievement motivation were associated positively with academic success. For the meaning directed, reproduction directed and application directed learning style, no positive association with academic success could be detected. The undirected learning style, however, appeared to be a consistent negative predictor. For the Big Five personality factors (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience), a consistent, positive association for conscientiousness with academic success was found. The very first examination at the university came out as the most important predictor for academic success, even after two and three years of study. The implications of the results are discussed in relation to the literature and the policy of the Dutch Ministry of Education.

Background. In his dissertation, Jan Vermunt (1992) proposed four different learning styles: a meaning directed, a reproduction directed, an application directed and an undirected style. Aims. In a cross-sectional and longitudinal design the development of these learning styles during students' stay at the university is studied, as well as the relation of these styles with academic success. A systematic relation between year of study and learning style is expected, namely that the application and meaning directed learning style scores would be higher in the later years and the undirected and reproduction learning style scores would be the highest in the early years. Results. In the cross-sectional study it was not found that the application and meaning directed learning style scores were higher in the later years, nor that the undirected and reproduction learning style scores were the highest in the early years. In the longitudinal study the means of the meaning directed and application directed learning style scores indeed increased over the years, while the means of the reproduction and undirected learning style scores decreased. For the score on the meaning directed learning style, this change was significant, though a marginal effect size was found. Conclusion. It might not be concluded there is a systematic relation between year of study and learning style. No evidence is found for the implicit hierarchy that the meaning directed and application directed learning are better than the reproduction learning style. The undirected learning style, however, correlates negatively with academic success.

In his dissertation, Vermunt [Vermunt, J. D. H. M. (1992). Leerstijlen en sturen van leerprocessen in het hoger onderwijs. (Learning styles and guidance of learning processes in higher education) . Amsterdam/Lisse: Swets and Zeitlinger] postulated four different learning styles: a meaning directed, a reproduction directed, an application directed and an undirected style. Aim of this project is to investigate the relation between these learning styles, the big five personality traits and achievement motivation. Subjects were about 900 university students. Extraversion correlated positively with the meaning directed, reproduction directed and application directed learning style. Conscientiousness was associated positively with the meaning, reproduction and application directed learning style, and negatively with the undirected learning style. Openness to experience correlated positively with the meaning and application directed learning style, and negatively with the undirected learning style. Besides, it was found that neuroticism correlated positively with the undirected learning style and negatively with the meaning and reproduction directed learning style. Agreeableness was associated positively with the reproduction and application directed learning style. Positive correlations were found for achievement motivation with the meaning, reproduction and the application directed learning style, and a negative one with the undirected learning style. Regression analyses confirmed these patterns. Although there was some systematic overlap for the four learning styles with personality variables and achievement motivation, the conclusion is that it certainly makes sense to measure these three groups of variables separately in educational settings.

The contribution of noncadherin-type, Ca2+-independent cell–cell adhesion molecules to the organization of epithelial tissues is, as yet, unclear. A homophilic, epithelial Ca2+-independent adhesion molecule (Ep-CAM) is expressed in most epithelia, benign or malignant proliferative lesions, or during embryogenesis. Here we demonstrate that ectopic Ep-CAM, when expressed in cells interconnected by classic cadherins (E- or N-cadherin), induces segregation of the transfectants from the parental cell type in coaggregation assays and in cultured mixed aggregates, respectively. In the latter assay, Ep-CAM–positive transfectants behave like cells with a decreased strength of cell–cell adhesion as compared to the parental cells. Using transfectants with an inducible Ep-CAM–cDNA construct, we demonstrate that increasing expression of Ep-CAM in cadherin-positive cells leads to the gradual abrogation of adherens junctions. Overexpression of Ep-CAM has no influence on the total amount of cellular cadherin, but affects the interaction of cadherins with the cytoskeleton since a substantial decrease in the detergent-insoluble fraction of cadherin molecules was observed. Similarly, the detergent-insoluble fractions of α- and β-catenins decreased in cells overexpressing Ep-CAM. While the total β-catenin content remains unchanged, a reduction in total cellular α-catenin is observed as Ep-CAM expression increases. As the cadherin-mediated cell–cell adhesions diminish, Ep-CAM–mediated intercellular connections become predominant. An adhesion-defective mutant of Ep-CAM lacking the cytoplasmic domain has no effect on the cadherin-mediated cell–cell adhesions. The ability of Ep-CAM to modulate the cadherin-mediated cell–cell interactions, as demonstrated in the present study, suggests a role for this molecule in development of the proliferative, and probably malignant, phenotype of epithelial cells, since an increase of Ep-CAM expression was observed in vivo in association with hyperplastic and malignant proliferation of epithelial cells.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of intraepithelial tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (ieTIL) and their ligands expressed by cervical tumor cells on the outcome of cervical cancer patients.Experimental Design: The prognostic value of ieTILs was investigated in 115 cases of cervical cancer. T-cell subsets, CD57+ cells, and regulatory T cells (Treg) were enumerated. The associations of these different ieTIL subtypes with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and MHC class I chain-related molecule A (MICA) expression were determined in relation to clinical variables and patient survival.Results: Survival analysis showed that a high number of intraepithelial Treg (FoxP3+), a low CD8+/regulatory T-cell ratio, and a weak HLA-A expression were all associated with worse survival (P = 0.034, 0.025, and 0.033, respectively, log-rank test). Further stratification of patient groups based on HLA-A-MICA expression and HLA-A-MICA-CD8+/Treg ratio revealed an even poorer survival (P = 0.005). In a multivariate Cox analysis, low CD8+/Treg ratio (P = 0.047), weak HLA-A-MICA expression (P = 0.003), and weak HLA-A-MICA expression combined with low CD8+/Treg ratio (P = 0.002) were all found to be independent unfavorable prognostic predictors in cervical carcinoma (hazard ratios, 2.7, 4.0, and 4.9, respectively).Conclusion: Weak HLA-A-MICA expression combined with low CD8+/Treg ratio reveals a patient group with the poorest survival in cervical cancer. As a single variable, low CD8+/Treg ratio was a significant independent unfavorable prognostic factor.

Prins, F.J., Veenman, M.V.J., & Elshout, J.J. (2006). The impact of intellectual ability and metacognition on learning: New support for the threshold of problematicity theory. Learning & Instruction, 16 , 374-387.

This article focuses on the design of competency-based performance assessment in e-learning. Though effort has been invested in designing powerful e-learning environments, relatively little attention has been paid to the design of valid and reliable assessments in such environments, leaving many questions to educational developers and teachers. As a solution to this problem, a systematic approach to designing performance assessments in e-learning contexts is presented, partly based on the 4C/ID model. This model enables the construction of realistic whole tasks instead of advocating education that is restricted to more isolated skills. A new assessment procedure also implies an alternative view of instructional design, learning and assessment. The requirements for the learning environment are addressed. Examples from a virtual seminar are presented to illustrate the design approach. The article concludes with the identification of possible pitfalls related to the approach and gives directions for future research.

Background: Learning styles are often assessed through students' self-reports on instruments such as Vermunt's Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS). Recent research, however, has questioned the adequacy of questionnaires for the assessment of learning styles. Aims: The objective of this paper is to evaluate methods of learning style assessment as a means for identifying students at risk. Therefore, the ILS as a self-report instrument will be compared with the students' actual study processes, assessed through the thinking-aloud method. Sample: In the first study 1,060 students from the Technical University of Delft participated. Thirty-three of them were selected on the ILS for participation in the second study. Method: The ILS was administered to the 1,060 participants and their study results (GPA and credit points) were collected. Next, the selected 33 participants studied a technical text while thinking aloud. Knowledge acquisition was measured by means of a post-test. Thinking-aloud protocols were analysed on frequencies of study activities, thus representing process measures of learning styles. Results: The ILS proved to be a rather weak predictor of study results in Study 1. Results from Study 2 show hardly any correspondence between ILS and study process measures, although principal component structures of both measures were highly similar. Furthermore, study process measures outweighed the ILS in the prediction of study results (post-test, GPA and credit points). Conclusions: Learning style theory was confirmed by results on the study process measures. The assessment of learning styles through self-report instruments such as the ILS, however, should be reconsidered.