Alternative dimensions in assessment : an overview

This four-part paper is the 'highlights' of the 2009 Australian Technology Network conference, 'Assessment in Different Dimensions: a conference on teaching and learning in tertiary education', held at RMIT University, 19–20 November 2009.

The main theme of this paper is an exploration of how 'progressive and innovative' assessment techniques from other higher education providers might be used to 'progress and innovate' the assessment of Media and Communication students at Deakin University.

As lecturers and tutors have traditionally had almost total control over the learning and assessment environment, for most students, the approach to assessment has changed little. The arrival of 'new media', 'digital culture' and 'dispersed learning' threatens this stability and control. Students are now able to operate in a more open, collaborative, interactive and distributed manner, and this fact challenges many of the traditional perceptions about what constitutes a 'university experience' and what are now 'appropriate' assessment tasks (Crisp 2009).

Each of the four speakers will present a 'spotlight' initiative from the 2009 Australian Technology Network conference, describing how each assessment innovation might be useful to (a) confront our current ideas and values around what is 'good' and 'bad' assessment; (b) explain why some assessment myths are 'hard to shift'; and (c) suggest how these new approaches might be useful in the years to come.

Custom essay writing : an exploration

In late 2010, three things happened. Firstly, I graded the final submission of a student who had, to date, been producing work that was, on the whole, pass/credit standard. Their last essay was outstanding. It was well organised, cleverly argued, well referenced and enjoyable to read. Turnitin assured me that the paper was not plagiarised but I remained suspicious because it seemed ‘too good to be true’. In the end, I gave it 91/100. Later in the same year, the final two events happened. I discovered that a large scale essay writing service provider from the USA was opening a ‘branch’ in Australia. Finally, a colleague from the States told me how she had become enraged to see a custom writing essay provider as a (busy) stallholder at her orientation week market day. She was furious, surely this is illegal? Interested in finding out ‘what (if anything) this might mean to Deakin?’, Toija and I approached Teaching and Learning in our faculty to see if they might fund a small experiment. They did, and the presentation will contain a record of this exploratory project. This project had a very simple premise. What would we receive if we ordered a custom written essay for one of the ALC101 assignment questions? Would it pass?

Mobile technology platforms for flexible access to information resources : considerations in the use of ebook readers, smart phones, netbooks and iPads

Smart phones are everywhere, people are taking eBook readers on holiday, the iPad has queues of people wanting to buy one, and some netbooks can fit in a pocket. The technology is attractive and increasingly affordable – how can it help an individual in their access to and use of texts, journals, databases, clinical sources, the web and day-to-day information? The Library has been investigating and trialling mobile devices during 2010, and has received interesting feedback from staff and students on the effectiveness of the technology in the University and personal environments. Each device has its strengths and weaknesses depending on the needs of the individual or activity it is supporting – productivity, research, study, clinical or recreational. The presentation will explore these issues along with some of the practical implications at Deakin, and international experiences in academic environments.

An examination of psychological contracts, careerism and intention to leave

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationships between elements of the psychological contract (i.e., type and fulfilment) and an employee’s intention to leave (ITL) their current organisation. The role of careerism as a potential mediating and moderating variable is also explored.

Design/methodology/approach - Allied Health Professionals (N=202) completed a questionnaire containing measures of the psychological contract, careerism and ITL.

Findings - As predicted, path analyses conducted via structural equation modelling demonstrated that careerism partially mediates the relationship between contract types and ITL. These findings suggest that employees with transactional contracts are more careerist, resulting in higher ITL, while employees with relational contracts are less careerist, resulting in lower ITL. Contrary to expectation, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that careerism failed to moderate the relationship between perceived contract fulfillment and ITL. However, a strong positive association between contract fulfillment and ITL was found.

Research limitations/implications - The data were collected cross-sectionally, which limits the ability to make causal inferences.

Practical implications - Results were consistent with the proposition that contract type and fulfillment predict employee ITL. It appears that employees with relational contracts are more likely to remain with their organization on a longer-term basis, compared to employees with transactional contracts, due to differences in career motives. Organizational awareness and understanding of employee psychological contracts and career motives is needed.

Originality/value - This paper provides new theoretical and practical insights on how psychological contracts and careerism can influence Intention to leave among Allied Health Professionals.