One of the main problems relating to language courses offered at language centres is measuring the students' entry-level skills in a fast, efficient and reliable way. This problem is particularly acute in language centres with large numbers of students, especially at the beginning of the academic year, as a mechanism has to be implemented which…

The Jomtien conference in 1990 on Education for All is seen by many as a turning point for the introduction of increased monitoring and evaluation of the quality of education systems around the world. Internationally, debates have arisen about the nature and frequency of assessment and its impact on education systems with its intended and…

This study explored the impact of individual versus two-person group testing on graduate students' achievement and motivation to learn while enrolled in a 16-lesson educational research methods course. Students in two sections of the course were exposed to the same content and instructional methods, with one exception: students in one section took…

The Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices Test (APM) is a well-known measure of higher order general mental ability. The time to administer the test, 40 to 60 minutes, is sometimes regarded as a drawback. To meet efficiency needs, the APM can be administered as a 30-or 40-minute timed test, or one of two developed short versions could be used. In…

An Oregon Health Sciences University medical school experiment adapted the quarterly Objective Structured Clinical Examination, in which medical students interact with standardized patients, to accommodate 23 small groups rather than 94 individual students at each testing station. Results indicated the method favorably influenced students,…