Project-based Assessment Research Articles

“A Multiple Intelligences Approach 2: Project-based Assessment”

The present paper presents a case study for primary students who learn English as a foreign language, as well as following the progress they made when they rediscovered their world and renamed it intuitively in the target language. The aim is the use of interactive multiple intelligences tasks that support the young learners to improve their awareness of the language system of regularities.The research consists in implementing school assessment that highlights the abstract and concrete concepts that are at hand in the youngsters’ environment. I also consider that intuitive techniques can support effective internalization of the concepts and in- depth learning.

Carbon Sequestration and Economic Potential of the Selected Medicinal Tree Species: Evidence From Sikkim, India

Medicinal plants are widely used in India for various livelihood and health benefits. However, there is a lack of awareness and research on their carbon sequestration and economical potential, which constrains their use in various ongoing carbon forestry schemes precluding farmers from potential carbon revenue opportunities. The present study seeks to fill this knowledge gap by assessing the carbon sequestration and economic potential of three extensively used medicinal tree species of Emblica officinalis (Amla), Terminalia belerica (Bahera), and Terminalia chebula (Harar) in the state of Sikkim with the help of the project-based comprehensive mitigation assessment process (PROCOMAP) model. The findings of this research suggest that the selected species of Amla, Bahera, and Harar have significant carbon sequestration rates of 1, 2.64, and 1.42 tC ha−1 yr−1, which could generate Indian National Rupees (INR) 844, 1,198, and 2,228 ha−1 yr−1, respectively from carbon revenues in a $5/tCO2 scenario through various ongoing carbon forestry schemes.

Strategic environmental assessment opportunities and risks for Arctic offshore energy planning and development

Abstract Canada's Arctic environment is rich in hydrocarbon resources. As international attention turns to the Arctic to meet global energy demands there is increased recognition of the need to advance upstream impact assessment and decision-making to plan for energy development. There have been several applications of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) over the past decade in the international offshore energy sector; however, SEA remains underdeveloped offshore in comparison to project-based environmental impact assessment and unchartered territory in Canada's Arctic. This paper examines stakeholder perceptions of the opportunities and risks of advancing SEA for offshore energy planning and development in Canada's Beaufort Sea. Results indicate a number of perceived opportunities for SEA, including improved regulatory efficiency, better regional baselines and planning practices, an opportunity to assess cumulative effects, more meaningful project-based assessment, and greater certainty for industry stakeholders. At the same time there are a number of perceived risks, including foregoing anticipated development opportunities, the loss of flexibility in decision making, adding another layer of bureaucracy, and the added uncertainties of a novel approach. The implications of these findings for advancing SEA in the offshore energy sector are discussed.

Project-based learning and assessment of an IT module in an ODL context

This article introduces project-based learning and assessment in an Information Technology (IT) module offered in an Open Distance Learning (ODL) context. The literature review explains the main arguments relating to project-based learning and assessment in terms of the module researched. The methodology used (an e-mail survey) to investigate the influence of an intervention to enhance student success is described. The findings presented show that the majority of respondents experienced an increase in the effectiveness of teaching for successful learning in an ODL context. Most students believe that sufficient information had been provided to complete their projects successfully, which also helped improve their self-confidence. This article also includes recommendations and implications for the possible future use of project-based learning and assessment in similar modules. In conclusion, the way in which project-based learning and assessment assists in solving problems experienced in a vocational IT module offered in an ODL context is summarised.

《企业管理》课程创新实践——以齐鲁工业大学为例

目前，《企业管理》课程存在内容滞后、内容重叠、教学方法落后、定位不清晰等问题。通过梳理课程体系，将《企业管理》定位为各专业课程的“树干”课，课程目标主要包括认知企业、理解企业、运营企业三个部分。在教学模式，应构建“教、学、做”一体化教学模式。通过合并、删除、减少以及增加等策略对《企业管理》课程内容进行创新和完善。在教学方法方面，应贯彻能力导向的教学方法，形成多元化教学与训练方法。在课程考核方面，应实行以能力为中心的开放式、全程化、项目式的考核，引导学生“学中做”与“做中学”。在课程资源方面，应建立多元立体的课程资源。通过本课程的创新尝试，希望能够为中国高校课程建设提供借鉴，推动中国高等教育的发展。 At present, “Enterprise Management” course has many problems such as content lag, content over-lap, teaching method is backward and positioning is not clear. By integrating the curriculum system, “Enterprise Management” is positioned as a “trunk” curriculum for professional courses. Its objectives include three parts: cognitive enterprise, understand enterprise and operating enterprise. At the teaching model, “teaching learning and doing” model is constructed. By the strategies such as merging, deleting, reducing and increasing, the course content of “Enterprise Management” is innovated and perfected. At the teaching methods, taking ability-oriented, diversified teaching and training are formed. At the course assessment, it should implement an open, full, project-based assessment whose center is the ability to guide the students in “learning to do” and “learning by doing”. In the curriculum resources, it should establish multiple stereo curriculum resources. Through the innovations of this course, we hope to provide references for the construction of Chinese university curriculums and to promote the development of China’s higher education.

Students' Experiences and Perceptions of Using a Virtual Environment for Project-Based Assessment in an Online Introductory Statistics Course

Course projects have been argued to help develop students’ statistical thinking, but implementing authentic and realistic course projects still presents major challenges. This paper evaluated students’ experiences and perceptions of using an online simulated virtual environment, known as the Island, for implementing major course projects within an online masters level introductory statistics course. The use of the Island aimed to overcome significant practical and ethical constraints imposed on project-based work in online courses. The project required students to answer a self-posed research question by gathering and analysing data using methods covered in the course. The project was divided into two parts, a mid-semester proposal and an end of semester online presentation. Following completion of the projects, forty-two students responded to a questionnaire which rated their level of agreement to three aspects of using the Island: engagement, ease of use and contributes to understanding. Students were also asked to provide qualitative comments and five students participated in semi-structured interviews. Qualitative feedback was analysed to help explain the results from the quantitative questionnaire. In conclusion, perceptions of the use of the Island for project-based assessment were very positive. Qualitative feedback provided insight into how the Island-based projects may help to develop students’ statistical thinking.

Valued ecosystem components for watershed cumulative effects: An analysis of environmental impact assessments in the South Saskatchewan River watershed, Canada

The accumulating effects of human development are threatening water quality and availability. In recognition of the constraints to cumulative effects assessment (CEA) under traditional environmental impact assessment (EIA), there is an emerging body of research dedicated to watershed-based cumulative effects assessment (WCEA). To advance the science of WCEA, however, a standard set of ecosystem components and indicators is required that can be used at the watershed scale, to inform effects-based understanding of cumulative change, and at the project scale, to inform regulatory-based project based impact assessment and mitigation. A major challenge, however, is that it is not clear how such ecosystem components and indicators for WCEA can or should be developed. This study examined the use of aquatic ecosystem components and indicators in EIA practice in the South Saskatchewan River watershed, Canada, to determine whether current practice at the project scale could be "scaled up" to support ecosystem component and indicator development for WCEA. The hierarchy of assessment components and indicators used in a sample of 35 environmental impact assessments was examined and the factors affecting aquatic ecosystem component selection and indicator use were identified. Results showed that public environmental impact statements are not necessarily publically accessible, thus limiting opportunities for data and information sharing from the project to the watershed scale. We also found no consistent terminology across the sample of impact statements, thus making comparison of assessment processes and results difficult. Regulatory compliance was found to be the dominant factor influencing the selection of ecosystem components and indicators for use in project assessment, rather than scientific reasoning, followed by the mandate of the responsible government agency for the assessment, public input to the assessment process, and preexisting water licensing arrangements external to the assessment process. The current approach to project-based assessment offered little support for WCEA initiatives. It did not provide a standard set of aquatic ecosystem components and indicators or allow the sharing of information across projects and from the project to the watershed scale. We suggest that determining priority assessment parameters for WCEA requires adoption of a standardized framework of component and indicator terminology, which can then be populated for the watershed of concern based on both watershed-based priorities and project-specific regulatory requirements.

Institutional requirements for watershed cumulative effects assessment and management: Lessons from a Canadian trans-boundary watershed

Watersheds are under increasing stress from the cumulative environmental effects of water and land use disturbances caused by both anthropogenic and natural causes. Yet, while the science of watershed cumulative effects assessment and management (CEAM) is advancing much less is known about the institutional and capacity requirements to implement and sustain watershed CEAM. Based on lessons from a transboundary watershed in western Canada this paper presents eight institutional requirements, or requisites, for the implementation of watershed-based CEAM. We suggest that effective watershed CEAM requires government leadership to move beyond the current inward focus on project approvals toward an outward focus on the cumulative effects of all disturbances in a watershed; complementary monitoring programs at the project and watershed scale, and a means to ensure the sharing of monitoring data across watershed stakeholders; and a nested planning framework to coordinate watershed planning objectives with individual project impact assessment and decision making. Results of this paper show that simply scaling up from individual project-based assessments to the watershed scale exposes many institutional constraints that can impede CEAM action.

Advancing strategic environmental assessment in the offshore oil and gas sector: Lessons from Norway, Canada, and the United Kingdom

Abstract: Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) for offshore oil and gas planning and development is utilized in select international jurisdictions, but the sector has received limited attention in the SEA literature. While the potential benefits of and rationale for SEA are well argued, there have been few empirical studies of SEA processes for the offshore sector. Hence, little is known about the efficacy of SEA offshore, in particular its influence on planning and development decisions. This paper examines SEA practice and influence in three international offshore systems: Norway, Atlantic Canada and the United Kingdom, with the intent to identify the challenges, lessons and opportunities for advancing SEA in offshore planning and impact assessment. Results demonstrate that SEA can help inform and improve the efficacy and efficiency of project-based assessment in the offshore sector, however weak coordination between higher and lower tiers limit SEA's ability to influence planning and development decisions in a broad regional environmental and socioeconomic context.

Conceptual and methodological challenges to integrating SEA and cumulative effects assessment

The constraints to assessing and managing cumulative environmental effects in the context of project-based environmental assessment are well documented, and the potential benefits of a more strategic approach to cumulative effects assessment (CEA) are well argued; however, such benefits have yet to be clearly demonstrated in practice. While it is widely assumed that cumulative effects are best addressed in a strategic context, there has been little investigation as to whether CEA and strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are a ‘good fit’ — conceptually or methodologically. This paper identifies a number of conceptual and methodological challenges to the integration of CEA and SEA. Based on results of interviews with international experts and practitioners, this paper demonstrates that: definitions and conceptualizations of CEA are typically weak in practice; approaches to effects aggregation vary widely; a systems perspective lacks in both SEA and CEA; the multifarious nature of SEA complicates CEA; tiering arrangements between SEA and project-based assessment are limited to non-existing; and the relationship of SEA to regional planning remains unclear.

Efficient Fuzzy Evolutionary Algorithm-Based Approach for Solving the Student Project Allocation Problem

This paper presents a solution framework for the student project allocation (SPA) problem which is based on evolutionary algorithms (EAs), a biologically inspired stochastic, population-based search paradigm. Project-based assessment is a common component of engineering courses that are conducted in universities around the world. In their final year of study, a list of projects is made available by the academic staff and students are required to select a specific number of options from this list. The department then assigns a suitable project to each student such that preferred projects can be allocated to as many students as possible. While student interest is the primary criteria, several additional factors need to be considered such as project prerequisites, load balancing of staff commitments, and other specific university requirements. The allocation problem can therefore be seen as a complex multiobjective problem with multiple constraints. The EA-based project allocation system was recently developed and implemented in a large university department to automate this process, and to improve the matching of students to their desired projects. The solution which provides the highest level of satisfaction in meeting the varied objectives is then used to allocate projects to students. This new automated system is not only able to achieve a very high level of user satisfaction, but is also able to do so in a very short time, resulting in significant time savings.

Implementation of Case‐Based Modules in Rural Northeast Louisiana High Schools

Case-based learning is a highly effective teaching method used to cover several concepts while showing their interrelationships. Using effective guided questions, facilitators enable students to direct their own learning. Good cases provide a common context for the use of knowledge while establishing a link with student interests. Project-based assessments then allow students a more authentic means of demonstrating their understanding. Through partnership with the NSF GK-12 program at Louisiana Tech, case-based lessons were implemented in two science classes. Here, we highlight cases used in lieu of Chemistry and Biology units at local schools. In Recipe for Disaster, students used assays to determine the identity of an unknown substance found in the cafeteria. The plan allowed students to direct the learning experience by using the initial case files to determine the information needed to make the next logical connection. In The Mystery of Sara Bellum, students used a fictional patient's medical history and test results to determine the cause of her illness and initiate a treatment modality. Through interviews with community experts and a fictional patient, students’ self-developed the steps needed for the investigation. Evaluations were completed through informal presentations, lab sheets, and a final summary of their investigation; students presented their findings and justified their conclusions.

Language teaching

Language teaching

Strategic environmental assessment in coastal zones, especially Australia's

Intense resource use and development pressure on the world's coastal zone has prompted international calls for integrated coastal management programmes. Associated with increasing coastal development has been the uncoordinated use of project-based environmental impact assessment (EIA) applied to individual coastal projects. In Australia, there is a complexity of different pieces of EIA legislation at federal and state level, and little enthusiasm to adopt the more recently developed formal strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of policies, programmes and plans. Australian coastal management has a parallel complexity of state-level legislation, although day-to-day decisions are mostly taken by local coastal managers. This paper illustrates the inadequacy of project-based EIA for coastal developments with generic environmental issues, and gives an Australian example of an SEA approach to overcome these problems.

Student Learning and Assessment Are Inextricably Linked

SUMMARY All assessment practices reflect a number of assumptions relating to the nature of learning and the purpose of assessment. If educational institutions intend to equip graduates with attributes necessary for professional practice, for example critical thinking and lifelong learning capabilities, then current assessment pratices must be examined. Teaching, learning and assessment are inextricably linked and assessment is the most significant motivator for learning. A number of innovative approaches to assessment have been implemented at Queensland Unviersity of Technology. This paper describes initiatives such as project-based learning, student-generated examinations, peer assessment and multiple-choice questions.

Notes on cumulative environmental change I: Concepts and issues

Environmental impact assessment, as it has been practised generally, is limited in several ways. Two characteristics are cause for particular concern. The first is that it is a reactive process, rather than representing a proactive approach to environmental management. The second is that the project-based approach often means that the combined effects of two or more developments are often overlooked. Concepts developed under the heading of cumulative environmental change present some clues to the appropriate reform of impact assessment, particularly with respect to these two failings. An analysis of the concept is presented here and we discuss also some general issues that arise in respect to the assessment of cumulative change. The latter include boundary issues, ecological response characteristics, monitoring, socio-economic effects and issues in evaluation. A consideration of the institutional context for the management of cumulative change leads us to propose a regional approach, as opposed to project-based assessments. Links between cumulative effects assessment, state-of-the-environment reporting and planning for sustainability are explored.

Project-based education and assessment

Project-based education and assessment