UNASSIGNED: Survey studies yield mixed results on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic performance, with limited direct evidence available.
UNASSIGNED: Using the academic platform from the Italian university system, a large-scale archival study involving 30,731 students and 829 examiners encompassing a total of 246,416 exams (oral tests only) to scrutinize the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the likelihood of passing exams was conducted. Examination data were collected both in face-to-face and online formats during the pandemic. In the pre-pandemic period, only face-to-face data were accessible.
UNASSIGNED: In face-to-face examination, we observed a lower probability of passing exams during the pandemic as opposed to pre-pandemic periods. Notably, during the pandemic we found an increased chance of passing exams conducted through online platforms compared to face-to-face assessments.
UNASSIGNED: These findings provide the first direct evidence of an adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic performance. Furthermore, the results align with prior survey studies underscoring that using telematics platforms to evaluate students\' performance increases the probability of exam success. This research significantly contributes to ongoing efforts aimed to comprehend how lockdowns and the widespread use of online platforms impact academic assessment processes.

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is an approach to measuring student academic growth and evaluating the effectiveness of instruction (Deno, Exceptional Children, 52, 219-232, 1985) that was developed, in part, based on characteristics of applied behavior analysis. Learning to administer and use CBM data is commonly part of teacher preparation programs, but less common in behavior analysis graduate programs (Schreck et al. Behavioral Interventions, 31, 355-376, 2016; Schreck & Mazur, Behavioral Interventions, 23, 201-212, 2008). This article describes a sequence of steps that educational teams can follow to use CBM within the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) framework. These steps include (1) selecting a CBM publisher and gathering materials; (2) practicing administering and scoring CBM; (3) administering, scoring, and comparing student scores to grade-level benchmarks; (4) using CBM data to write ambitious and realistic IEP goals; and (5) using data-based individualization. Each step is described and includes a description of a case study that is based on our experiences working with pre-service teacher candidates, and special education and behavior analysis graduate students in K-12 and after-school instructional programs.

Objective. To identify and describe validated assessment tools that measure cultural competence and are relevant to pharmacy education.Methods. A systematic approach was used to identify quantitative cultural competence assessment tools relevant to pharmacy education. A systematic search of the literature was conducted using the OVID and EBSCO databases and a manual search of journals deemed likely to include tools relevant to pharmacy education. To be eligible for the review, the tools had to be developed using a study sample from the United States, have at least one peer-reviewed validated publication, be applicable to the pharmacy profession, and be published since 2010.Results. The systematic literature and manual search identified 27 tools. Twelve assessment tools met the criteria to be included in the summary and their relevancy to pharmacy education is discussed.Conclusion. A review of literature demonstrates that assessment tools vary widely and there is no one tool that can effectively assess all aspects of cultural competence in pharmacy students or the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum. As cultural competence is a priority within the accreditation standards for pharmacy education, PharmD programs are encouraged to develop additional tools that measure observed performance.

OBJECTIVE: Academic physical therapy has no universal metrics by which educational programs can measure outcomes, limiting their ability to benchmark to their own historical performance, to peer institutions, or to other healthcare professions. The PT-GQ survey, adapted from the Association of American Medical Colleges\' (AAMC) Graduation Questionnaire, addresses this gap by offering both inter-professional insight and fine-scale assessment of physical therapist education. This study reports the first wave of findings from an ongoing multi-site trial of the PT-GQ among diverse academic physical therapy programs, including: 1) benchmarks for academic physical therapy, and 2) a comparison of the physical therapist student experience to medical education benchmarks.
METHODS: Thirty-four doctor of physical therapy (DPT) programs (13.2% nationwide sample) administered the online survey to DPT graduates during the 2019-2020 academic year. PT-GQ and AAMC data were contrasted via Welch\'s unequal-variance t-test and Hedges\' g (effect size).
RESULTS: A total of 1025 respondents participated in the study (response rate: 63.9%). Average survey duration was 31.8 minutes. Overall educational satisfaction was comparable to medicine, and respondents identified areas of curricular strength (eg, anatomy) and weakness (eg, pharmacology). DPT respondents provided higher ratings of faculty professionalism than medicine, lower rates of student mistreatment, and a lesser impact of within-program diversity upon their training. One-third of respondents were less than \"Satisfied\" with student mental health services. DPT respondents reported significantly higher Exhaustion but lower Disengagement than medical students, along with lower Tolerance for Ambiguity. Of DPT respondents who reported educational debt, one-third reported debt exceeding $150,000, the threshold above which the DPT degree loses economic power.
CONCLUSIONS: These academic benchmarks, using the PT-GQ, provided insight into physical therapist education and identified differences between physical therapist and medical student perceptions.
CONCLUSIONS: This ongoing trial will establish a comprehensive set of benchmarks to better understand academic physical therapy outcomes.

BACKGROUND: In higher education settings, there are increasing calls to shift away from traditional summative assessment practices, such end of term written tests, to explore methods of assessing learning in alternative ways. Peer assessment has been advocated as a means of formative assessment to enhance student engagement, empowering students to take responsibility for their own learning. While there is accumulating evidence for the value of peer assessment in higher education, one cannot assume peer feedback will translate appropriately to all settings and educational contexts.
OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the implementation of formative online peer assessment in a nursing and midwifery research methods module. We explored students\' expectations, experiences, and ultimately the acceptability of this approach.
METHODS: A quantitative descriptive study.
METHODS: Ireland.
METHODS: An online survey to collate expectations and experiences of engagement in peer assessment. Scales were drawn from previous research and non-parametric tests explored changes in perceptions over time. Qualitative content analysis explored patterns evident in open-text responses.
RESULTS: The response rate was 28% (n = 74) at baseline and 31% at follow-up (n = 81). Peer assessment was a new experience for 95% of respondents. Students initially expressed apprehension, perceiving the task as daunting, and doubting their ability to provide feedback to peers. However, through providing instruction and tools to support students in the activity, high levels of satisfaction with the process and the experience were reported. Significant differences in perceptions of peer assessment were evident over time, including an enhanced belief that respondents had the requisite skills to appraise the work of their peers.
CONCLUSIONS: In sum, nursing and midwifery students agreed that peer assessment was a valuable learning experience as part of research methods training and critical skills development.

Universities and research institutions have to assess individuals when making decisions about hiring, promotion and tenure, but there are concerns that such assessments are overly reliant on metrics and proxy measures of research quality that overlook important factors such as academic rigor, data sharing and mentoring. These concerns have led to calls for universities and institutions to reform the methods they use to assess research and researchers. Here we present a new tool called SPACE that has been designed to help universities and institutions implement such reforms. The tool focuses on five core capabilities and can be used by universities and institutions at all stages of reform process.

Emotional intelligence is intrinsically associated with the ability to understand, manage, and express feelings and deal with other people\'s emotions. This competence is essential for the formation, development, and maintenance of personal and professional relationships. Furthermore, emotional intelligence can be extensively worked out and developed over time, which allows each individual to become a better professional. Nevertheless, the perception that higher education students have about the importance of emotional intelligence remains residual and there are few contexts that allow them to develop emotional intelligence skills. In this sense, this study proposes the use of a serious game to assess and develop emotional intelligence skills in the context of an entrepreneurship discipline attended by multidisciplinary students from the courses of management and computer engineering. The performance of students is measured and discussed considering a mixed methods approach. The findings indicate the existence of a correlation between the player\'s emotional intelligence skills and his performance in the game, and this occurrence is common to students regardless of their course, gender, age, and number of years of professional experience. The study also explores the importance of emotional intelligence considering the distinct profile of students.

BACKGROUND: The 2010 reform of the Italian university system introduced the National Scientific Habilitation (ASN) as a requirement for applying to permanent professor positions. Since the CVs of the 59,149 candidates and the results of their assessments have been made publicly available, the ASN constitutes an opportunity to perform analyses about a nation-wide evaluation process.
OBJECTIVE: The main goals of this paper are: (i) predicting the ASN results using the information contained in the candidates\' CVs; (ii) identifying a small set of quantitative indicators that can be used to perform accurate predictions.
METHODS: Semantic technologies are used to extract, systematize and enrich the information contained in the applicants\' CVs, and machine learning methods are used to predict the ASN results and to identify a subset of relevant predictors.
RESULTS: For predicting the success in the role of associate professor, our best models using all and the top 15 predictors make accurate predictions (F-measure values higher than 0.6) in 88% and 88.6% of the cases, respectively. Similar results have been achieved for the role of full professor.
RESULTS: The proposed approach outperforms the other models developed to predict the results of researchers\' evaluation procedures.
CONCLUSIONS: Such results allow the development of an automated system for supporting both candidates and committees in the future ASN sessions and other scholars\' evaluation procedures.

Publications by Chinese researchers in scientific journals have dramatically increased over the past decade; however, academic misconduct also becomes more prevalent in the country. The aim of this prospective study was to understand the perceptions of Chinese biomedical researchers towards academic misconduct and the trend from 2010 to 2015. A questionnaire comprising 10 questions was designed and then validated by ten biomedical researchers in China. In the years 2010 and 2015, respectively, the questionnaire was sent as a survey to biomedical researchers at teaching hospitals, universities, and medical institutes in mainland China. Data were analyzed by the Chi squared test, one-way analysis of variance with the Tukey post hoc test, or Spearman\'s rank correlation method, where appropriate. The overall response rates in 2010 and 2015 were 4.5% (446/9986) and 5.5% (832/15,127), respectively. Data from 15 participants in 2010 were invalid, and analysis was thus performed for 1263 participants. Among the participants, 54.7% thought that academic misconduct was serious-to-extremely serious, and 71.2% believed that the Chinese authorities paid no or little attention to the academic misconduct. Moreover, 70.2 and 65.2% of participants considered that the punishment for academic misconduct at the authority and institution levels, respectively, was not appropriate or severe enough. Inappropriate authorship and plagiarism were the most common forms of academic misconduct. The most important factor underlying academic misconduct was the academic assessment system, as judged by 50.7% of the participants. Participants estimated that 40.1% (39.8 ± 23.5% in 2010; 40.2 ± 24.5% in 2015) of published scientific articles were associated with some form of academic misconduct. Their perceptions towards academic misconduct had not significantly changed over the 5 years. Reform of the academic assessment system should be the fundamental approach to tackling this problem in China.

The Chinese academic assessment and incentive system drew mixed responses from academia. In the essay the author tried to explain why the current assessment system is appropriate in China and an opportunistic behavior in Chinese academia is exposed.