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?

Reasons, Success Factors and Disadvantages of Research Collaboration

In recent years, the number of both co-authored publications and authors per publication in the national and international literature has increased. Co-authored publications are a result of voluntary research collaboration among academics. This study aims to investigate the reasons for research collaboration, the factors affecting the success of research collaboration, and the disadvantages of the collaboration perceived by researchers. For this purpose, qualitative research was conducted, and interviews were conducted with ten academics with different titles working in different disciplines. Among the reasons for collaboration, the most frequently reported reasons were increasing the quality of publications, ensuring learning and development, improving social relations, expertise, and access to resources. Factors such as being honest and trustworthy of the research partner, fulfilling the responsibilities of the parties, interpersonal harmony, complying with the business plan and calendar are among the factors considered to affect the success of the collaboration. Some of the perceived disadvantages of research collaboration are the low reliability of the contribution to multi-author studies, the division of academic achievement score by the number of authors, the difficulty of proving individual achievement in co-authored studies, and problems related to the research partner.

PENERAPAN MODEL PEMBELAJARAN STRUCTURE NUMBERED HEADS MATERI OPERASI HITUNG BILANGAN PECAHAN MTs AL–FATHAANAH MEMPAWAH HILIR

In the study effectiveness is very important, learning is said to b e successful when learners and educators can achieve the objectives to be reached. The effectiveness of what this researchsats is the learning activities performed by the teacher in administering the materials to be presented, the study activity, and the learning result of the learners. The purpose of the researchto see the effectiveness of these three aspects in applying the research Structure Numbered Heads to the operating material VII MTs. Al-Fataanah Memapawah Hilir. The method used in research is experimental method, with the shape of the research is a One- Shot Case Study. The subjects in this study are VII-A class learners and teachers at MTs. Al-Fataanah Mempawah Hilir. Research data is obtained from the administration of study tests (posttest), the learning management observation sheet and the observation sheet of participants activities. The result of all three learning effectiveness is that the learning process applies 3,04 cooperative types of Structure Numbered Heads to good categories, learning activity percentage is 68,9% in the active category, learners can achieve the greatest learning result of individual achievement of 8 or 40% and classified intellgence is not lade. Since there is an unfulfilled indicator that the achievement of classified learning will not be achieved it seems that the study of applying cooperative models Structure Numbered Heads is not effective to apply in program class MTs. Al-Fataanah Mempawah Hilir.

Higher one-year achievement rate of serum phosphate associated with lower cardiovascular mortality in hemodialysis patients

Background Estimation of phosphate load in hemodialysis patients is always controversial in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to verify individual achievement rate of serum phosphate as the evaluation of phosphate load through investigating its impact on cardiovascular mortality in hemodialysis patients. Methods This was a single-center, retrospective cohort study. A total of 251 maintenance hemodialysis patients were enrolled. The individual achievement rate of serum phosphate was defined as the times of tests within the target range divided by total times of tests over a period of time. Cox regression model was used to examine the relationship between individual achievement rate of serum phosphate and cardiovascular mortality. Results The mean age of the study population was 61 ± 13 years old. A total of 44 (17.5%) patients died from cardiovascular disease (CVD) during a median follow-up of 65 months. Multivariable Cox analysis showed that one-year serum phosphate achievement rate of 0% (HR = 4.117, P = 0.016) and 25% (HR = 3.343, P = 0.023) increased the risk of cardiovascular mortality while the achievement rate of 50% (HR = 2.129, P = 0.162) and 75% (HR = 1.080, P = 0.902) did not, compared to the rate of 100%. Urea reduction ratio (URR) was positively, while serum intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), normalized protein catabolic rate (nPCR), and total phosphate-binding capacity of drug were negatively associated with achievement in target of serum phosphate. Conclusions Keeping one-year achievement rate of serum phosphate higher than 50% provides significant clinical benefits in reducing cardiovascular mortality.

“All they do is walk”: Successful aging and symbolic boundaries among a self-organized mall walkers club

Objectives This study examines how successful aging discourse manifests through physical and social participation among members of a self-organized mall walkers club. There is a paucity of research investigating successful aging in situ and theorizing the relationship between successful aging discourse and community participation. I draw on symbolic boundaries—a concept from cultural sociology—as a way to make sense of what mall walkers say and do. Methods I draw on data from 15 months of participant observations and interviews of mall walkers, all of whom are over 65 and predominantly Caribbean-Canadian women Results I identify three common boundaries: personal, interpersonal, and community, that mall walkers draw on to challenge narratives of decline and internalize dimensions of successful aging. Discussion These findings uncover the ways members in a self-organized community reinforce boundaries that highlight how certain dimensions of successful aging as something to be proud of and desirable. This article contributes to research on intersubjective experiences of aging by revealing how successful aging is rooted in community participation, rather than individual achievement.

Combat Sports and Gladiatorial Combat in Greek and Roman Private Art

The private art of violent Greek and Roman competitions shows iconic moments commemorated by ordinary fans and a wealthy elite. The depictions assume a viewer who understands the rules and identifies with fighters, spectators, or sponsors. Greek combat sports were associated with individual achievement and persistence through pain. Equal combatants, idealized and indistinguishable in Archaic and Classical art, fought nude for personal and regional glory, overseen by a referee. Hellenistic art introduced fighters whose battered faces declared personal suffering the price of victory. Roman public combatants were degraded by competition, although ennobled by martial valour, as were gladiators who willingly faced death. In the arena, differently equipped combatants were paired as fighting ‘types’. Ordinary art emphasized action and equipment. The art of the wealthy also referenced the sponsor, who decided the terms of victory and loss. The gazes of referees and combatants turned toward him; in real life, he interacted with the audience about the outcome, and they praised his public benefaction.

Can Assets Determine Family Happiness?

Ownership of assets can be assessed as the success of individual achievement in his life goals. It certainly can make individuals feel satisfied with the efforts they have made. Life satisfaction is one of the dimensions used by BPS to measure happiness. Thus, this study will analyze the effect of asset ownership on happiness. The data used in this study are data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS) wave 5 of 2014. Analysis of the model in this study uses logistic regression for analysis in Java and outside Java Island. This study found that ownership of assets (jewelry, savings, vehicles, receivables), health, gender of the head of the household, type of residential, mobile phone, television, and access to the internet have a significant effect on household happiness. At the same time, other assets (houses/other buildings, land), number of household members, type of floor, and residential area (urban, rural) have no effect in determining of happiness of the household. The finding in this study also states that the probability of household happiness will be higher outside Java Island.

Knowledge Building in Online Mode: Insights and Reflections

It seems certain that blended learning will be on the rise in higher education, with in-person meetings increasingly precious time, and online synchronous and asynchronous sessions used to complement them. This paper examines Knowledge Building in two graduate courses conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were no in-person sessions; rather, synchronous Zoom sessions were combined with asynchronous work in a knowledge building environment–Knowledge Forum. Knowledge Forum is designed to make transparent and accessible means by which deep understanding and sustained creative work proceed. Accordingly, for example, rise-above notes and view rearrangement support synthesis and explanatory coherence, epistemic markers support knowledge-advancing discourse, and analytics support self-and group-monitoring of progress as work proceeds. In this report, we focus on these aspects of Knowledge Building, using a subset of analytics to enhance understanding of key concepts and design of principles-based practices to advance education for knowledge creation. Overall, we aimed to have students take collective responsibility for advancing community knowledge, rather than focus exclusively on individual achievement. As we reflect on our experiences and challenges, we attempt to answer the following questions: Do courses that introduce Knowledge Building in higher education need an in-person or synchronous component? In what ways can we leverage in-class time and Knowledge Forum work to engage students in more advanced knowledge creation? We conclude that synchronous and asynchronous Knowledge Building can be combined in powerful new ways to provide students with more design time and deeper engagement with content and peers.