An Ontology for Open Rubric Exchange on the Web

While the Internet has given educators access to a steady supply of Open Educational Resources, the educational rubrics commonly shared on the Web are generally in the form of static, non-semantic presentational documents or in the proprietary data structures of commercial content and learning management systems.With the advent of Semantic Web Standards, producers of online resources have a new framework to support the open exchange of software-readable datasets. Despite these advances, the state of the art of digital representation of rubrics as sharable documents has not progressed.This paper proposes an ontological model for digital rubrics. This model is built upon the Semantic Web Standards of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), principally the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Web Ontology Language (OWL).

Rubric-based tools to support the monitoring and assessment of Bachelor???s Final Projects

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

Rubric Assessment of Mathematical Processes in Homework

In this action research study of my classroom of 11th grade geometry, I investigated the use of rubrics to help me assess my students during homework presentations. I wanted to know more about the processes students went through as they did their homework problems, so homework presentations were implemented with the rubrics being the main form of assessment. I discovered that students are willing to speak about mathematics and can gain more understanding of mathematical processes as a result of homework presentations. The scores of the class improved after they talked about the homework assignments with each other. As a result of this research, I plan to keep on using homework presentations in my classroom to talk about homework, but discontinue the use of rubrics in assessment of students in mathematics. I also found students going to the board to solve problems in small groups are another helpful way to use presentations prior to assessment to help me understand where the students are with a new concept prior to assigning homework or giving an assessment.

De veteris nvmismatis potentia et qvalitate lucubratio, occasione rubricæ codicis de eodem argumento; sive cognitio totivs rei nvmariæ ad intelligentiam ivris accommodata.

Author's name appears in dedication.

The lay folks' Mass book : or, Manner of hearing Mass : with rubric and devations for the people; in four texts ; and, Offices in English according to the use of York : from MSS. of the Xth to the XVth century /

Includes glossary and index

Using student feedback to construct an assessment rubric for a concept map in physiology

Constructing quality assessment rubrics can be challenging, especially when they are used for integrated, group-centered, applied learning. We describe a collaborative assessment task in which groups of second-year dentistry students developed a complex concept map. In groups of four, the students were given a written, simulated, medical history of a patient and required to construct a concept map illustrating relevant pathophysiological concepts and pharmacological interventions. This report describes a research project aimed at making educational goals of the task more explicit through investigating student and faculty member understandings of the criteria that might be used to assess the concept map. Information was gathered about the perceptions of students in relation to the learning goals associated with the task. These were compared with faculty member perceptions. The findings were used to develop an assessment rubric intended to be more accessible to learners. The new rubric used the language of both faculty members and students to more clearly represent expectations of each criterion and standard. This assessment rubric will be used in 2005 for the next phase of the project.

Rubric-Q:adding quality-related elements to the GEOSS clearinghouse datasets

Geospatial data have become a crucial input for the scientific community for understanding the environment and developing environmental management policies. The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) Clearinghouse is a catalogue and search engine that provides access to the Earth Observation metadata. However, metadata are often not easily understood by users, especially when presented in ISO XML encoding. Data quality included in the metadata is basic for users to select datasets suitable for them. This work aims to help users to understand the quality information held in metadata records and to provide the results to geospatial users in an understandable and comparable way. Thus, we have developed an enhanced tool (Rubric-Q) for visually assessing the metadata quality information and quantifying the degree of metadata population. Rubric-Q is an extension of a previous NOAA Rubric tool used as a metadata training and improvement instrument. The paper also presents a thorough assessment of the quality information by applying the Rubric-Q to all dataset metadata records available in the GEOSS Clearinghouse. The results reveal that just 8.7% of the datasets have some quality element described in the metadata, 63.4% have some lineage element documented, and merely 1.2% has some usage element described. © 2013 IEEE.

Project RAILS: Lessons Learned about Collaborative Rubric Assessment of Information Literacy Skills

Link to article on publisher site: https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/portal_pre_print/articles/belanger.pdf

Tecnologias e metodologias na ensinagem de inglês no século XXI : elaboração e análise de webquests

Este trabalho tem como objetivo geral apresentar mecanismos de análise e validação de propostas de material didático na forma de Webquests e, com base nesses mecanismos, elaborar e validar três propostas de material didático em forma de WebQuests criticamente situados para a ensinagem de inglês como língua adicional. As WebQuests elaboradas visam priorizar o desenvolvimento do letramento digital crítico e da competência comunicativa em inglês como língua adicional do aprendiz. A WebQuest se insere na perspectiva de uma metodologia que tem esse mesmo nome e consiste na proposta de uma pesquisa orientada e organizada em etapas em que toda ou grande parte do conteúdo a ser acessado e necessário para a realização da(s) tarefa(s) encontra-se disponível online (DODGE, 1995). A metodologia deste estudo é de cunho qualitativo e também se insere na perspectiva da metodologia de desenvolvimento. O design metodológico dessa investigação foi organizado em três etapas, quais sejam, a análise de necessidades, a elaboração de três WebQuests e a análise das WebQuests elaboradas a partir de uma rubrica. A revisão de literatura, que constituiu parte da análise de necessidades, sugere que as demandas do século XXI exigem maior atenção e investimento para o desenvolvimento de letramentos múltiplos e críticos, de competências comunicativas e interacionais e de formação de cidadania. A análise de WebQuests disponíveis para ensinagem de inglês no principal sítio brasileiro de WebQuests, que compôs a segunda parte da análise de necessidades desse estudo, evidenciou a escassez de WebQuests que abordam de forma significativa tanto as questões do letramento digital crítico quanto os aspectos da competência comunicativa na língua adicional do indivíduo. A análise de necessidades como um todo forneceu subsídios relevantes para o processo de elaboração das WebQuests propostas neste estudo, que também se embasou nas diretrizes e princípios do modelo WebQuest e em grande parte do seu embasamento teórico. Como fase final deste estudo, as três WebQuests elaboradas foram submetidas à validação a partir de uma rubrica criada especialmente para esse propósito. Os resultados das análises de validação das três WebQuests elaboradas sugerem que a proposta desses materiais é válida sob o ponto de vista teórico, pois mostram que as ferramentas criadas vão ao encontro da proposta do modelo WebQuests de Dodge (1995, 2001) e das recomendações de qualidade sugeridas por Bottentuit Junior e Coutinho (2008a, 2012), bem como estão ancoradas na teoria sócio-construtivista e do ensino situado e nos princípios metodológicos da abordagem de ensino baseada em tarefas e da abordagem de ensino de conteúdos diversos por meio da língua (CLIL). Concluímos que as três WebQuests são materiais de ensinagem de inglês que fogem do enfoque tradicional conteudista historicamente voltado para o ensino de vocabulário e gramática na língua-alvo, extrapolando os objetivos linguísticos para alcançar também objetivos sociais e culturais da ensinagem de inglês como língua adicional, na medida em que se trabalha paralelamente (e intencionalmente, por entender que ambos se complementam) o desenvolvimento da competência comunicativa e do letramento digital crítico do indivíduo, contribuindo, assim, para a sua formação cidadã e colaborando para a “inclusão” do aprendiz no mundo social e digital.

Environmental conflicts, environmental justice and valuation

In this article some historical and contemporary environmental conflicts are described. The international environmental liability of mining corporations is discussed. Comparisons are made with conflicts in the United States and in South Africa which fall under the rubric of the Environmental Justice movement. Such conflicts are fought out in many languages, and the economic valuation of damages is only one of such languages. Who has the power to impose particular languages of valuation? Who rules over the ways and means of simplifying complexity, deciding that some points of view are out of order? Who has power to determine which is the bottom-line in an environmental discussion?

The ‘Global Dimension’ of Contemporary Politics. An Argument for Taking ‘Global’ Seriously

Recent years have seen a striking proliferation of the term ‘global’ in public and political discourse. The popularity of the term is a manifestation of the fact that there is a widespread notion that contemporary social reality is ‘global’. The acknowledgment of this notion has important political implications and raises questions about the role played by the idea of the ‘global’ in policy making. These questions, in turn, expose even more fundamental issues about whether the term ‘global’ indicates a difference in kind, even an ontological shift, and, if so, how to approach it. This paper argues that the notion of ‘global’, in other words the ‘global dimension’, is a significant aspect of contemporary politics that needs to be investigated. The paper argues that in the globalization discourse of International Studies ‘global’ is ‘naturalized’, which means that it is taken for granted and assumed to be self-evident. The term ‘global’ is used mainly in a descriptive way and subsumed under the rubric of ‘globalization’. ‘Global’ tends to be equated with transnational and/or world-wide; hence, it addresses quantitative differences in degree but not (alleged) differences in kind. In order to advance our understanding of contemporary politics, ‘global’ needs to be taken seriously. This means, firstly, to understand and to conceptualize ‘global’ as a social category; and, secondly, to uncover ‘global’ as a ‘naturalized’ concept in the Political and International Studies strand of the globalization discourse in order to rescue it for innovative new approaches in the investigation of contemporary politics. In order to do so, the paper suggests adopting a strong linguistic approach starting with the analysis of the word ‘global’. Based on insights from post-structuralism as well as cognitive and general constructivist perspectives it argues that a frame-based corpus linguistic analysis offers the possibility of investigating the collective/social meaning(s) of global in order to operationalize them for the analysis of the ‘global dimension’ of contemporary politics.

Governing International Migration through Partnership

Partnerships in international migration governance promise a cooperative approach between countries of origin, transit and destination. The literature has generally conceptualised migration partnerships as a policy instrument. This article suggests that understanding the broader transformations taking place in international migration governance under the rubric of partnership demands a novel analysis. Using a governmentality perspective, I interpret migration partnerships as an instance of neoliberal rule. Focusing on the convergence of international migration governance between the international realm and the European and North American region in particular, I demonstrate that the partnership approach frames international migration governance so as to enlist governments, migrants and particular experts in governing international migration, and invokes specific technologies of neoliberal governing which contribute to producing responsible, self-disciplined partners who can be trusted to govern themselves according to the norms established by the partnership discourse. The partnership approach is not a mere policy instrument; it goes beyond the European region and has become an essential element of the governance of international migration.

Evaluation of transversal competencies: pilot project in a maths course for first-year business

The aim of this communication is to describe the results of a pilot project for the assessment of the transversal competency "the capacity for learning and responsibility". This competency is centred on the capacity for the analysis, synthesis, overview, and practical application of newly acquired knowledge. It is proposed by the University of Barcelona in its undergraduate degree courses,through multidisciplinary teaching teams. The goal of the pilot project is to evaluate this competency.We worked with a group of students in a first-year Business Degree maths course, during the firstsemester of the 2012/2013 academic year. The development of the project was in two stages: (i)design of a specific task to share with the same students in the following semester when the subjectwould be economic history; and (ii) the elaboration of an evaluation rubric in which we defined thecontent, the aspects to evaluate, the evaluation criteria, and the marking scale. The attainment of theexpectations of quality on the specific task was scored following this rubric, which provided a singlebasis for the precise and fair assessment by the instructor and for the students' own self-evaluation.We conclude by describing the main findings of the experience. There particularly stood out the highscore in the students' self-evaluation given to one aspect of the competency – their capacity forlearning – in stark contrast to their instructor's quite negative evaluation. This means that we have towork both to improve teaching practice and to identify the optimal competency evaluationmethodology.

Promotion of learning skills in the study of economics. pilot project in the subject area of

This communication is part of a larger teaching innovation project financed by the University ofBarcelona, whose objective is to develop and evaluate transversal competences of the UB, learningability and responsibility. The competence is divided into several sub-competencies being the ability toanalyze and synthesis the most intensely worked in the first year. The work presented here part fromthe results obtained in phase 1 and 2 previously implemented in other subjects (Mathematics andHistory) in the first year of the degree of Business Administration Degree. In these subjects’ previousexperiences there were deficiencies in the acquisition of learning skills by the students. The work inthe subject of Mathematics facilitated that students become aware of the deficit. The work on thesubject of History insisted on developing readings schemes and with the practical exercises wassought to go deeply in the development of this competence.The third phase presented here is developed in the framework of the second year degree, in the WorldEconomy subject. The objective of this phase is the development and evaluation of the same crosscompetence of the previous phases, from a practice that includes both, quantitative analysis andcritical reflection. Specifically the practice focuses on the study of the dynamic relationship betweeneconomic growth and the dynamics in the distribution of wealth. The activity design as well as theselection of materials to make it, has been directed to address gaps in the ability to analyze andsynthesize detected in the subjects of the first year in the previous phases of the project.The realization of the practical case is considered adequate methodology to improve the acquisition ofcompetence of the students, then it is also proposed how to evaluate the acquisition of suchcompetence. The practice is evaluated based on a rubric developed in the framework of the projectobjectives. Thus at the end of phase 3 we can analyze the process that have followed the students,detect where they have had major difficulties and identify those aspects of teaching that can help toimprove the acquisition of skills by the students. The interest of this phase resides in the possibility tovalue whether tracing of learning through competences, organized in a collaborative way, is a goodtool to develop the acquisition of these skills and facilitate their evaluation.