Profiling developmental standards of learning for students with intellectual disabilities. This project addresses an area of educational assessment that has been traditionally neglected as 'too hard'. It offers hope to students with intellectual disabilities. If developmental progress can be mapped and identified in competency terms and linked to successful teaching and learning strategies, the students can be expected to make more rapid progress towards achieving their potential. Teachers in ma ....Profiling developmental standards of learning for students with intellectual disabilities. This project addresses an area of educational assessment that has been traditionally neglected as 'too hard'. It offers hope to students with intellectual disabilities. If developmental progress can be mapped and identified in competency terms and linked to successful teaching and learning strategies, the students can be expected to make more rapid progress towards achieving their potential. Teachers in mainstream schools can also expect to be helped in recognising development and given advice for intervention. The materials will be made available world wide to help all students in this challenging area.Read moreRead less
Realising the Potential of Australia’s High Capacity Students. This project aims to investigate factors that contribute to high capacity students failing to improve in literacy, numeracy and problem solving compared with their lower capacity peers. The project aims to focus on protective factors that might mitigate against this negative association between capacity and achievement. The study and method extends previous research the influence of evidence-based decisions by collaborative teacher t ....Realising the Potential of Australia’s High Capacity Students. This project aims to investigate factors that contribute to high capacity students failing to improve in literacy, numeracy and problem solving compared with their lower capacity peers. The project aims to focus on protective factors that might mitigate against this negative association between capacity and achievement. The study and method extends previous research the influence of evidence-based decisions by collaborative teacher teams on student achievement. In partnership with the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, this project seeks to identify ways that will enable systems of education to realise the learning potential of all students.Read moreRead less
Authentic digital representation of creative works in education: addressing the challenges of digitisation and assessment. This project will investigate the digitisation and marking of portfolios for the purposes of summative assessment in the visual arts and design senior secondary school courses. The aim is to enhance moderation, compare between media and course contexts, compare methods of marking, and generally increase the authenticity of the assessment.
Stopping domestic violence in urban and rural areas: evaluating and improving the effectiveness of domestic violence perpetrator programs. Domestic violence affects up to 36% of women (Mouzos et.al 2004). Its annual economic cost is $8.1b (Access Economics 2004). In 66% of cases children are present (Bagshaw et.al 1999). Effects on women and children are poor mental health, homelessness and impaired work/education performance (VicHealth 2004). As male perpetrators tend to be serial offenders (Ha ....Stopping domestic violence in urban and rural areas: evaluating and improving the effectiveness of domestic violence perpetrator programs. Domestic violence affects up to 36% of women (Mouzos et.al 2004). Its annual economic cost is $8.1b (Access Economics 2004). In 66% of cases children are present (Bagshaw et.al 1999). Effects on women and children are poor mental health, homelessness and impaired work/education performance (VicHealth 2004). As male perpetrators tend to be serial offenders (Hansen et al 2004), there are Australian programs to stop the violence. There are limited and contentious findings about their value and no published evaluation of programs in rural Australia. This research addresses these significant knowledge gaps and is nationally beneficial as the knowledge can ultimately reduce domestic violence prevalence.Read moreRead less
A Quantitative Analysis of Prawn Harvesting Strategies. Prawn fisheries in NSW are undergoing major changes in their management. This unusual PhD project will design and test new decision-rules and strategies for fishery managers that are based upon pragmatic quantities of catch-per-unit-effort, prawn size, and river temperature and discharge. The performance of rules and strategies will be measured to ensure that they generate satisfactory outcomes for the prawn resources and the people that de ....A Quantitative Analysis of Prawn Harvesting Strategies. Prawn fisheries in NSW are undergoing major changes in their management. This unusual PhD project will design and test new decision-rules and strategies for fishery managers that are based upon pragmatic quantities of catch-per-unit-effort, prawn size, and river temperature and discharge. The performance of rules and strategies will be measured to ensure that they generate satisfactory outcomes for the prawn resources and the people that depend upon them. A major outcome will be precautionary or risk-averse decision-rules and strategies that are robust to the uncertainties that exist in prawn fisheries.Read moreRead less
Development assistance to women in postconflict situations. In the last decade, internal armed conflicts have attracted increasing attention as major obstacles to development in poor countries. For development assistance organisations this poses serious challenges. Moreover, men and women experience conflict differently. This project documents, analyses and assesses work amongst women in post-conflict situations by an Australian non-government development agency, Oxfam Community Aid Abroad (OCAA ....Development assistance to women in postconflict situations. In the last decade, internal armed conflicts have attracted increasing attention as major obstacles to development in poor countries. For development assistance organisations this poses serious challenges. Moreover, men and women experience conflict differently. This project documents, analyses and assesses work amongst women in post-conflict situations by an Australian non-government development agency, Oxfam Community Aid Abroad (OCAA). Three countries, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and East Timor, comprise the case studies. In reports and scholarly articles, this research will evaluate how well OCAA meets women's needs in the post-conflict transition, and identify how development organisations can improve such work in future.Read moreRead less
Human Oöcytes for Stem Cell Research: donation and regulation in Australia. This study will contribute to the development of workable, ethical guidelines and practices for Australian research oöcyte donation. It will contribute to the protection of women's health and autonomy and the design of sound donation practices and support services. It will contribute to the national and international debate about the ethics of stem cell research, and improve the knowledge base available to regulators and ....Human Oöcytes for Stem Cell Research: donation and regulation in Australia. This study will contribute to the development of workable, ethical guidelines and practices for Australian research oöcyte donation. It will contribute to the protection of women's health and autonomy and the design of sound donation practices and support services. It will contribute to the national and international debate about the ethics of stem cell research, and improve the knowledge base available to regulators and other stakeholders to frame adequate and comprehensive regulation.Read moreRead less
Building the numeracy and information and communication technology capability of students with intellectual disabilities. This project investigates strategies to build numeracy and information and communication technology capability among students with intellectual disabilities. It aims to support teachers in mainstream and special education schools as they plan and monitor personalised instruction for their students. The research combines disciplines of special schools, the state Education Depa ....Building the numeracy and information and communication technology capability of students with intellectual disabilities. This project investigates strategies to build numeracy and information and communication technology capability among students with intellectual disabilities. It aims to support teachers in mainstream and special education schools as they plan and monitor personalised instruction for their students. The research combines disciplines of special schools, the state Education Department’s Student Inclusion and Wellbeing Division, and the Assessment Research Centre. The expected outcome is an integrated program of assessment, reporting, curriculum, and instructional advice that promotes inclusive educational practices and seeks to ensure all children have improved opportunities to participate in a technology driven, emerging knowledge economy.Read moreRead less
Performance-based assessment of professional standards for school leaders. Descriptions of school principals' professional standards are common in the English speaking countries. These standards, however, are rarely accompanied by adequate methods for making judgements about performance against the standards.
The project will apply both substantive and modern test theory innovations to construct scales, develop test items, and operationalise and verify scoring rubrics to demonstrate assessabl ....Performance-based assessment of professional standards for school leaders. Descriptions of school principals' professional standards are common in the English speaking countries. These standards, however, are rarely accompanied by adequate methods for making judgements about performance against the standards.
The project will apply both substantive and modern test theory innovations to construct scales, develop test items, and operationalise and verify scoring rubrics to demonstrate assessable variation in leaders' performance within a standards framework. To enhance performance, these outcomes and the variation in accomplishment that leaders may be expected to display, will be made available to assessors, leaders and aspiring leaders as characteristics of accomplished performance.
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New Dimensions of Group Literacy Tests for Schools: Multimodal reading comprehension in conventional and computer-based formats. Today's texts require readers to comprehend information from an extensive range of images integrated with print material. No assessment currently exists to test what new reading strategies students require to interpret the meanings made jointly through images and print in contemporary texts. To address this problem, this research will develop a model of image/text rel ....New Dimensions of Group Literacy Tests for Schools: Multimodal reading comprehension in conventional and computer-based formats. Today's texts require readers to comprehend information from an extensive range of images integrated with print material. No assessment currently exists to test what new reading strategies students require to interpret the meanings made jointly through images and print in contemporary texts. To address this problem, this research will develop a model of image/text relations. Such a model is foundational to the development of effective assessment tools, particularly group tests. For the first time, such tests will incorporate the comprehension strategies that students require to understand conventional and computer-based texts with their increased integration of images and print.Read moreRead less