scholarly journals Peer Assessment for Construction Management and Quantity Surveying Students

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia McLaughlin

Students undertaking the Bachelor of ConstructionManagement degree course at RMIT University, Melbourne,qualify for registration with the Australian Institute ofQuantity Surveyors (AIQS) and the Australian Institute ofBuilding (AIB) upon graduation. Over the past decade thedegree course has been constantly upgraded and altered inline with recommendations from professional bodies such asthese and other industry partners. In 1994 the Departmentof Building and Construction Economics re-assesseda range of subjects including the first year technologysubjects. Out of the review a problem-based integratedlearning unit was developed and tested. This unit has nowbeen in place for ten years.Quantity surveying and construction management likemost other professions in the construction industryrequire teamwork and advanced consultation skills. Theseskills may be learnt through experience but there isconsiderable evidence that these skills can be taught in theundergraduate years. Therefore in line with team-basedapproaches used in industry and professional constructionsettings, this year a new assessment model - peerassessment - will be applied to the problem-based learningunit. This paper describes the procedures and processesused to introduce the change and examines the theoreticalbase upon which the model was developed.

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 20-35
Author(s):  
Sean Kearney ◽  

The transition into higher education from secondary school is a challenging change for many students. This transition and the problems students face as a result, can affect their ability to succeed. Universities recognise the transition to university as a significant feature of student engagement and learning. The current article explores an already established assessment model as a tool to help acculturate first-year students to tertiary assessment practices. The author has moulded a model of self and peer assessment that has been utilised at all levels of schooling, as a specific means to help students engage, not only with content, but also with the administrative processes of assessment. Over the course of a number of weeks, undergraduate education students, in their first semester of university study, were subjected to Authentic Self and Peer Assessment for Learning (ASPAL) model, which sought to illustrate study skills, encourage collaboration, promote autonomy and illustrate to students how assessment can drive learning. The current article presents a case for the use of the ASPAL model of assessment as a transition pedagogy that can help students better understand assessment at the tertiary level and enhance student success.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 298
Author(s):  
Irina Karpovich ◽  
Oksana Sheredekina ◽  
Tatyana Krepkaia ◽  
Larisa Voronova

A significant number of studies are devoted to the psychological and social adaptation of students to the educational process at university. This research contributes to the solution of the problem of first-year students’ academic performance in the framework of studying a foreign language by working with monologue speaking tasks. The study offers an analysis of the improvement of academic performance in this particular type of language activity. The study took place at Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, Russia, and involved 274 first-year students enrolled in undergraduate programs. Mixed qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to collect and analyse data for the study. The research included the qualitative content analysis of monologue speaking tasks. Results of the study make it possible to conclude that the use of monologue speaking tasks paired with peer interaction and peer assessment can improve first-year students’ English-speaking skills.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merran McAlister ◽  
Christie Franks

This bulletin presents the findings of the latest survey of identity crime and misuse undertaken by the Australian Institute of Criminology as part of the Australian Government’s National Identity Security Strategy. In 2021, 9,956 people across Australia were surveyed about their experience of victimisation over their lifetime and during 2020. Nineteen percent of respondents had experienced misuse of their personal information in their lifetime and seven percent experienced it in the past year—a decline from 2019. Seventy-eight percent of respondents who reported victimisation in the past year experienced a financial loss as a result.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roshmi Sen ◽  
Shankha Pratim Bhattacharya ◽  
Subrata Chattopadhyay

<p>There is a strong positive correlation between thermal comfort quality experienced inside a building and its energy efficiency. This is more obvious in case of mechanically ventilated spaces where the energy gains are directly related to the thermal load, as compared to free running or naturally ventilated spaces. Current state of arts assess the energy efficiency of building envelops in terms of the cumulative thermal load in the operating phase of the building that are catered by mechanical ventilations. Our study aims at addressing this gap of research in assessing the thermal comfort quality of naturally ventilated residential living spaces. Our study is designed in a warm-humid climate setting and in the context of affordable mass housing in the developing world where mechanical ventilation is unaffordable or affordable only for a definite period of the day and during peak summer seasons; such buildings are said to be operating in temporal mixed mode.</p><p>Affordable mass housing constitutes 95% housing demand in the residential sector in India. Various alternative materials and composite roofing and walling envelops have been envisioned in the past decade for such constructions, however, their effectiveness in terms of comfort quality has not been assessed for naturally ventilated envelops. Our study introduces a model to assess the thermal performance of naturally ventilated bedrooms constructed with alternate building envelop configurations. We attempt to review  and compare alternative walling technologies and the currently emerging mass housing construction systems in India with the base case housing envelop constructions commonly in practice in India that use ordinary burnt clay brick walls and reinforced concrete roofs. We compare the thermal comfort purveyed in the indoor bedroom spaces using the adaptive thermal comfort model in EN15251 as thermal neutrality temperature. We assess and compare alternative envelop performance using two measuring thermal comfort indices suited for naturally ventilated scenarios - the discomfort hours index and the cooling indoor degree hours index. Discomfort hours measures the number of hours of discomfort experienced during the summer solstice and spring equinox months whereas the cooling indoor degree hours measures the cumulative average temperature elevation from the comfort temperature in the hours marked as discomfort hours. In our study, light gauge steel framed structure with foam concrete filling records the minimum number of discomfort hours, however purveys maximum cooling indoor degree hours.</p><p>The above two comfort indices have not been compared in the past to assess the thermal comfort quality in naturally ventilated or temporal mixed mode buildings. Our study frames a thermal comfort assessment model for naturally ventilated envelops and thereby offers a paradigm shift from life cycle cooling load minimization models which are appropriate for mechanically conditioned spaces. Our observations are also important for mass housing envelop selection and in the context of the current policy frameworks in the developing world, aimed at minimizing the projected demand for residential space cooling and future energy footprints in the housing sector.</p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 351-363
Author(s):  
Paula Kay Lazrus ◽  
Gretchen Kreahling McKay

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Alfonsa García López ◽  
Francisco García Mazarío

This work describes a formative assessment model for the Mathematical Analysis course taken by engineering students. It includes online questionnaires with feedback, a portfolio with weekly assignments, exams involving the use of mathematical software and a project to be completed in small groups of two or three students. The model has been perfected since 2009, and during the 2014-15 academic year the creation of a pilot online learning community was added. Based on Google+, it has been used for a peer assessment experiment involving student projects, among other uses. 


Author(s):  
June Countryman ◽  
Andrew Zinck

Concerned about the success rate of new students in our program we designed and implemented a compulsory set of experiences which aim to support students in their transition from high school to university by 1) developing their sense of belonging to a community of learners and by 2) articulating with them the interrelationships among their first year core courses. We initiated various strategies which we have refined in response to student feedback over the past three years. In this paper we describe the pedagogical moves that constitute our initiative and the lessons we learned. We explore essential academic and personal issues that first-year students in all programs face. We share our research findings and address the big ideas that could be applied to any discipline or multi-disciplinary program. Préoccupés par les taux de rétention des étudiants de première année, les auteurs ont conçu et mis en oeuvre un ensemble d’expériences obligatoires dont le but est d’aider les étudiants à effectuer la transition entre l’école secondaire et l’université. Ils ont établi deux objectifs : (a) développer chez les étudiants le sens d’appartenance à une communauté d’apprenants et (b) démontrer les corrélations qui existent entre les cours de base de première année que les étudiants suivent. Diverses stratégies ont été entreprises et plus tard améliorées, à partir des rétroactions fournies par les étudiants au cours de l’étude de deux ans. Cet article présente une explication des actions pédagogiques de cette initiative et explore les questions essentielles académiques et personnelles auxquelles sont confrontés les étudiants de première année dans tous les programmes. Les résultats de cette étude sont résumés et les idées générales qui peuvent s’appliquer à n’importe quelle discipline ou à des programmes multidisciplinaires sont présentées en détail.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Senka Kovač

Nataliе’s Ramonda, a symbol of Armistice Day – November 11 in Serbia, is a new memorial symbol constructed and promoted by politicians in 2012. The Armistice Day was celebrated then as a national holiday in Serbia. The reception of this symbol has been explored over a five-year period, both in a public discourse and on a representative sample of first year students at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. In public discourse, as well as among students of the Faculty of Philosophy, Natalie’s Ramonda is perceived as an emblem, a badge, and most often as a symbol. It was seen as an emblem on the lapel of public and media figures, inaccessible to broad commercial promotion and sales. In public discourse and among students at the Faculty of Philosophy, Natalie’s Ramonda was perceived in several answers as a medal, and is also recognized as a flower that symbolizes the suffering of the Serbian people in World War One; symbol of the nation’s rebirth – the flower phoenix, as a mark of peace and freedom. As a newly constructed symbol of the Armistice Day in Serbia, for the past seven years, Natalie’s Ramonda has been a mediator in the public culture of remembrance and in the ongoing process, by becoming a part of cultural memory.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. e146-e150
Author(s):  
Donna L Johnston ◽  
Janelle Cyr

Background: Children with leukemia often have hepatosplenomegaly present. This can be diagnosed with physical examination and confirmed with ultrasound. We sought to determine if level of training influenced the ability to detect hepatosplenomegaly. Methods: All children diagnosed with leukemia during the past 5 years were reviewed. The training level of the examiner, the documentation of hepatosplenomegaly, and the ultrasound findings were collected and analyzed. Results: There were 245 examinations of the spleen and 254 of the liver. Splenomegaly was correctly diagnosed by medical students 54% of the time, by residents 81%, and by staff 79% of the time. First year residents diagnosed it correctly 68% of the time, R2s 64%, R3s 76% and R4s 86% of the time. Hepatomegaly was correctly diagnosed by medical students 44% of the time, by residents 73% and by staff 68% of the time. First year residents diagnosed it correctly 77% of the time, R2s 54%, R3s 81% and R4s 75% of the time. Conclusions: Pediatric residents had the best ability to detect hepatosplenomegaly, and were better than staff and medical students, although this was not statistically significant.


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