Determining English Language Lecturers’ Quality of Marking in Continuous Assessment through Rasch Analysis

English language lecturers at matriculation colleges are generally equipped with assessment criteria for marking students’ written assessment. However, these criteria are normally susceptible to lecturers’ interpretation and understanding, which threatens quality marking. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the severity and consistency of English language lecturers’ marking of English academic writing (EAW) in continuous assessment. The participants were five English language lecturers and 50 matriculation students. Each lecturer selected ten EAWs randomly from 318 matriculation students. The five-part EAW was marked first by the class’s lecturer and later, it was marked by pre-assigned peer moderators who did not teach the students. The total data set collected was 250 (5 lecturers x 10 EAWs x 5 parts of EAW). The data were analyzed with Many-Facets Rasch Measurement (MFRM) application. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with both lecturers and students for triangulation purposes. Findings revealed that four out of five lecturers were lenient in marking but the marking was found to be internally consistent with infit and outfit mean squares for each lecturer ranged between 0.5 and 1.5. From interview responses analyzed, students perceived their lecturers as fair but strict in awarding marks. These responses were consistent with most lecturers’ responses on their strict adherence to assessment criteria. Discussion of findings is centered on the issue of severity and consistency of the assessors. This study could offer a practical solution in providing evidence for quality marking of written assessment and, consequently, aid in developing remedial measures for misfit assessors in educational institutions.

PERAN GURU PAI DALAM PENINGKATKAN SIKAP SPIRITUALITAS SISWA MELALUI PEMBACAAN SURAT-SURAT PENDEK DI SMK PANCASILA MOJOWARNO JOMBANG

Spiritual attitude is a reflection of religious character. Religion is a character value that is related between humans and their God, Spiritual attitudes can be implemented as a very good way to always be grateful for the blessings of Allah SWT. The results showed that the role of Islamic religious education teachers in improving students' spiritual attitudes included; consistency (istiqomah), humility (tawadu'), strive and surrender (tawakal), sincerity (sincereness), totality (kaffah), balance (tawazun), integrity and perfection (ihsan). as for a. supporting factors are adequate facilities and infrastructure, as well as a comfortable environment. b. the inhibiting factor is the limited time for meetings and interactions between teachers and students. Lack of motivation and parental attention. There is no written assessment of emotional and spiritual intelligence.

1644 Trainee Perspective in Sarcoma Care

Aim Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are rare and aggressive tumours. Appropriate multidisciplinary management requires robust knowledge of best practice and understanding of current guidelines. Plastic surgery trainees must therefore be proficient in the assessment, investigation, and treatment of patients with STS. We aimed to evaluate trainee education, confidence, and competence in managing patients with STS. Method All plastic surgery trainees in Wales completed an online questionnaire and written assessment. This was designed by the lead for STS and TPD. Formal training, knowledge of national guidelines and excision margins for different types of STS and skin cancer was assessed using short answer questions. A five-point Likert scale was used to assess trainee confidence in STS and skin cancer management and follow-up. Volume and type of teaching in sarcoma and skin cancer was also quantified. Results Trainees received less sarcoma training and were less confident in STS assessment and follow-up, in comparison to skin cancer. More senior trainees or those with formal sarcoma training were more confident in skin cancer management (mean confidence rating 4.4 vs 2.2) and performed better in the written assessment of excision margins (mean score 100% vs 61.45%) Conclusions Trainees receive less training in sarcoma with a significant impact on their competence and confidence in sarcoma care. We believe this is consistent across the United Kingdom as evidenced by just two sarcoma webinars held during the COVID-19 pandemic. Formal national evaluation of sarcoma teaching should be carried out to inform ongoing efforts to improve educational resources on this important topic for trainees.

Measuring differential attainment: a longitudinal analysis of assessment results for 1512 medical students at four Scottish medical schools

ObjectiveTo measure Differential Attainment (DA) among Scottish medical students and to explore whether attainment gaps increase or decrease during medical school.DesignA retrospective analysis of undergraduate medical student performance on written assessment, measured at the start and end of medical school.SettingFour Scottish medical schools (universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow).Participants1512 medical students who attempted (but did not necessarily pass) final written assessment.Main outcome measuresThe study modelled the change in attainment gap during medical school for four student demographical categories (white/non-white, international/Scottish domiciled, male/female and with/without a known disability) to test whether the attainment gap grew, shrank or remained stable during medical school. Separately, the study modelled the expected versus actual frequency of different demographical groups in the top and bottom decile of the cohort.ResultsThe attainment gap grew significantly for white versus non-white students (t(449.39)=7.37, p=0.001, d=0.49 and 95% CI 0.34 to 0.58), for internationally domiciled versus Scottish-domiciled students (t(205.8) = −7, p=0.01, d=0.61 and 95% CI –0.75 to −0.42) and for male versus female students (t(1336.68)=3.54, p=0.01, d=0.19 and 95% CI 0.08 to 0.27). International, non-white and male students received higher marks than their comparison group at the start of medical school but lower marks by final assessment. No significant differences were observed for disability status. Students with a known disability, Scottish students and non-white students were over-represented in the bottom decile and under-represented in the top decile.ConclusionsThe tendency for attainment gaps to grow during undergraduate medical education suggests that educational factors at medical schools may—however inadvertently—contribute to DA. It is of critical importance that medical schools investigate attainment gaps within their cohorts and explore potential underlying causes.

Teaching and learning process for mathematization activities: The case of solving maximum and minimum problems

One of the topics within the course of Essential Concepts in School Mathematics (ECSM) for prospective mathematics teachers concerns maximum and minimum problems. This type of problems requires mathematization, i.e., the activity of transforming a problem into a symbolic mathematics problem and of reorganizing within the mathematical system, in the solution process. This research aims to investigate the implementation of the learning and teaching process of the ECSM course that strengthen prospective mathematics teachers’ conceptual understanding and problem solving abilities through mathematization activities. To reach this aim, this qualitative study was conducted through an observation of the learning and teaching process, including the formative written assessment, for the case of maximum and minimum problems, involving 19 students of mathematics education program. The results of this study revealed that the learning and teaching process is implemented by emphasizing the use of a deductive approach. The written assessment showed students’ strategies and difficulties in dealing with maximum and minimum problems. Main difficulties included constructing visual representations and mathematical models in the mathematization processes. It can be concluded that the learning and teaching processes of the ECSM course need to be improved so as to develop better conceptual understanding and problem solving abilities through mathematization activities.

IMPLEMENTASI KEBIJAKAN PEMBELAJARAN BAHASA JAWA SEBAGAI MUATAN LOKAL KELAS IV DI MI PLUS AL-KAUTSAR YOGYAKARTA

The destination of this research is to knowing about fungtion of Javanese language studying from two sides: 1) purpose and fungsion from Javanese language studying as a local subject for class IV at Al-kautsar elementary school Yogyakarta, 2) realization of Javanese language studying as a local subject for class IV at Al-kautsar elementary school Yogyakarta. The type of this research is qualitative research with descriptive analysis method. The technique of collecting data are interview, observation, and documents collection. Codification, presentation, and withdrawal of conclusions or verifications. This research used a triangulation technique for checking the validity of the findings. There are two conclusion from this research: 1) the direction or purpose and function of learning Javanese language class IV in MI Plus Al-kautsar doesn’t going well as a DIY governor regulation number 64 of 2013. 2) the implementation of class IV Javanese language learning in MI Plus Al-kautsar for its curriculum has followed the 2013 curriculum. In Javanese language leraning, the meeting time is only two hours in a week, and it’s was utilized as much as possible by Mrs. Muthi as a Javanese language teacher. In the learning process, she not only conveys the material, but she also provides motivation to students, inviting them to talk about their experiences in accordance with the theme under discussion, and by this method the students being active in the study. Delivery of motivation is done at the beginning of learning and at the end of learning, while for the evaluation or assessment of learning she only uses written assessment technique.

The Tracker Producer and Top-Liner Collaborative Music Production Project (Advanced)

This project engages students with the collaborative realities of modern popular music production via an amalgamation of the music programmer, producer, and songwriter roles. Students engage in face-to-face and remote/online communication, composition, and production to manifest an original popular music output that is generated primarily within the DAW. Student learning is encapsulated within the autonomous interaction and workflows associated with the task, and reflected upon within a journal that informs a written assessment item. This activity is designed as a profession-based engagement that bridges student interaction to the realities of the modern music industry. This is intended to promote notions of professional ability within students upon completion.

The Use of Learning Videos to Improve the Skills in Writing Environmental Observation Results for Class II Students

<em>This research has the aim of increasing the skills to write reports on the results of simple environmental observations. The subjects of this study were class II SD Negeri 2 Kritig, totaling 15 students. This research was conducted in 3 cycles. Each cycle consists of 4 stages, namely planning, implementing and observing, and reflecting. There are two assessments carried out in this study, namely an assessment of the content of the report and an assessment of the writing. The results of his research for the assessment of report content in the first cycle of completeness reached 80% and increased in cycles II and III to reach 100%. Then for the written assessment, completeness reached 26.67% in the first cycle increased to 67% in the second cycle and 86.7% in the third cycle. Furthermore, the average final score in cycle I reached 73.99, increased to 78.75 in cycle II and reached 80.2 in cycle III. So the conclusion is that through the use of instructional video media it can improve the skills of writing reports on environmental observations of grade II students of SD Negeri 2 Kritig.</em>