Beyond High-Stakes Assessment

High-stakes assessments in higher education serve a gate-keeping function for institutional and programmatic accreditation and determine outcomes for students on state boards and professional licensing and certification examinations. The assessments are defined by specific characteristics such as: a single, summative examination, a clear measure of success and failure, and significant consequences for candidates. Controversial aspects are related to whether they actually measure individual achievement or meaningful skills, the current mismatch between education and workplace needs, and the increased use of technology in instruction. Can high-stakes testing evolve and move with the times?

Developing a Practical Teaching Simulation Software for Ability Certification of Microcontroller Applications

This paper proposes an effective educational training tool used to help students passing the professional competence certification examinations held by TEMI (Taiwan Embedded Microcontroller Development Institute) association. In order to help students passing the certificate qualification examinations, the developed educational training tool allows users to simulate both discipline and technical subjects of three types of microcontroller application professional competence certification examinations, including microcontroller, digital logical circuitry design, and welding circuitry certificates. The proposed simulation platform can allow students to learn wireless remote-control robots, tracking self-propelled vehicles, digital circuit design, and electronic component de-soldering/soldering related technology, respectively. In this paper, the developed practical educational training tool utilizes Visual Basic and C# programming languages as the development tools for developing three types of main control circuit board ability certifications and the discipline ability certification training simulation platform. In addition, the designed teaching tool aims at guiding students on their hands-on experience to inspire students' interest in microcontroller related application technology and enhance students' learning effects. The proposed simulation tool has been used as the learning exploration with the students at Kao Yuan University in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. According to the experimental results, this paper can provide three contributions. First, it can increase the passing rates of obtaining three types of microcontroller application professional competence certification examinations. Second, it can assist teachers in understanding students' learning performance, thereby proposing related effective and efficient teaching strategies. Third, it can increase students' professional skills and employment competitiveness, thereby cultivating more professional and technical talents to meet the needs of the microcontroller application industry.

A Snapshot of Dietetics Practice in Africa

Objectives To describe dietetics practice in various African countries. Methods A cross-sectional web-based survey was administered in 2018 to dietetic managers, educators and administrators in all 52 African countries. Results Representatives from 18 countries responded to the survey. They were mostly female (69%), about half had completed doctoral degrees (48%), a majority in training roles (84%) with 46% in administrative roles. Respondents ranked hospitals as the highest employer of dietitians, followed by private practice and teaching in higher education. Dietitians in seven countries needed to pass certification examinations post-graduation. Nine countries reported the existence of a professional society for dietitians, with only two of these affiliated with the International Confederation of Dietetic Associations. Only two professional societies are recognized as a trade union by their governments. Poor job prospects, lack of recognition of the profession by the general public and lack of funding for training programs were some challenges identified by respondents. When asked about the perception of dietetics integration and importance, 23% of respondents felt that dietetics was well integrated into the healthcare system whilst 33% felt dietitians were recognized as a key component of the healthcare system. Conclusions With the increase in disease burden from chronic diet-related diseases in Africa, dietetics practice needs to be prioritized and adequately funded to effectively contribute to the prevention and management of these diseases. Funding Sources No funding.