Time Efficient Assessment and Feedback Methods for Large Computer-Aided-Design Cohorts

Timely and individualized feedback on coursework is desirable from a student perspective as it facilitates formative development and encourages reflective learning practice. Faculty however are faced with a significant and potentially time consuming challenge when teaching larger cohorts if they are to provide feedback which is timely, individualized and detailed. Additionally, for subjects which assess non-traditional submissions, such as Computer-Aided-Design (CAD), the methods for assessment and feedback tend not to be so well developed or optimized. Issues can also arise over the consistency of the feedback provided. Evaluations of Computer-Assisted feedback in other disciplines (Denton et al, 2008), (Croft et al, 2001) have shown students prefer this method of feedback to traditional “red pen” marking and also that such methods can be more time efficient for faculty.
Herein, approaches are described which make use of technology and additional software tools to speed up, simplify and automate assessment and the provision of feedback for large cohorts of first and second year engineering students studying modules where CAD files are submitted electronically. A range of automated methods are described and compared with more “manual” approaches. Specifically one method uses an application programming interface (API) to interrogate SolidWorks models and extract information into an Excel spreadsheet, which is then used to automatically send feedback emails. Another method describes the use of audio recordings made during model interrogation which reduces the amount of time while increasing the level of detail provided as feedback.
Limitations found with these methods and problems encountered are discussed along with a quantified assessment of time saving efficiencies made.

Sonification as Concurrent Augmented Feedback for Motor Skill Learning and the Importance of Mapping Design

In recent years, sonification of movement has emerged as a viable method for the provision of feedback in motor learning. Despite some experimental validation of its utility, controlled trials to test the usefulness of sonification in a motor learning context are still rare. As such, there are no accepted conventions for dealing with its implementation. This article addresses the question of how continuous movement information should be best presented as sound to be fed back to the learner. It is proposed that to establish effective approaches to using sonification in this context, consideration must be given to the processes that underlie motor learning, in particular the nature of the perceptual information available to the learner for performing the task at hand. Although sonification has much potential in movement performance enhancement, this potential is largely unrealised as of yet, in part due to the lack of a clear framework for sonification mapping: the relationship between movement and sound. By grounding mapping decisions in a firmer understanding of how perceptual information guides learning, and an embodied cognition stance in general, it is hoped that greater advances in use of sonification to enhance motor learning can be achieved.

Identification and output tracking control of Hammerstein systems through wireless networks

his paper investigates the identification and output tracking control of a class of Hammerstein systems through a wireless network within an integrated framework and the statistic characteristics of the wireless network are modelled using the inverse Gaussian cumulative distribution function. In the proposed framework, a new networked identification algorithm is proposed to compensate for the influence of the wireless network delays so as to acquire the more precise Hammerstein system model. Then, the identified model together with the model-based approach is used to design an output tracking controller. Mean square stability conditions are given using linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) and the optimal controller gains can be obtained by solving the corresponding optimization problem expressed using LMIs. Illustrative numerical simulation examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Feedback Networks and Self-Oscillating Objects

A system of self-designed microphones, speakers and transducers creating performable feedback networks and self-oscillating objects. Performance SARC Sonic Lab, Belfast, 18 March 2015

Factors influencing the output of rural cataract surgical facilities in China: the SHARP study

Purpose: To identify factors associated prospectively with increased cataract surgical rate (CSR) in rural Chinese hospitals.

Methods: Annual cataract surgical output was obtained at baseline and 24 months later from operating room records at 42 rural, county-level hospitals. Total local CSR (cases/million population/y), and proportion of CSR from hospital and local competitors were calculated from government records. Hospital administrators completed questionnaires providing demographic and professional information, and annual clinic and outreach screening volume. Independent cataract surgeons provided clinical information and videotapes of cases for grading by two masked experts using the Ophthalmology Surgical Competency Assessment Rubric (OSCAR). Uncorrected vision was recorded for 10 consecutive cataract cases at each facility, and 10 randomly-identified patients completed hospital satisfaction questionnaires. Total value of international nongovernmental development organization (INGDO) investment in the previous three years and demographic information on hospital catchment areas were obtained. Main outcome was 2-year percentage change in hospital CSR.

Results: Among the 42 hospitals (median catchment population 530,000, median hospital CSR 643), 78.6% (33/42) were receiving INGDO support. Median change in hospital CSR (interquartile range) was 33.3% (-6.25%, 72.3%). Predictors of greater increase in CSR included higher INGDO investment (P = 0.02, simple model), reducing patient dissatisfaction (P = 0.03, simple model), and more outreach patient screening (P = 0.002, simple and multiple model).

Conclusions: Outreach cataract screening was the strongest predictor of increased surgical output. Government and INGDO investment in screening may be most likely to enhance output of county hospitals, a major goal of China's Blindness Prevention Plan.

Improving E-Assessment Systems With A focus On Adaptive Feedback And Marking

Institutions involved in the provision of tertiary education across Europe are feeling the pinch. European universities, and other higher education (HE) institutions, must operate in a climate where the pressure of government spending cuts (Garben, 2012) is in stark juxtaposition to the EU’s strategy to drive forward and maintain a growth of student numbers in the sector (eurostat, 2015).

In order to remain competitive, universities and HE institutions are making ever-greater use of electronic assessment (E-Assessment) systems (Chatzigavriil et all, 2015; Ferrell, 2012). These systems are attractive primarily because they offer a cost-effect and scalable approach for assessment. In addition to scalability, they also offer reliability, consistency and impartiality; furthermore, from the perspective of a student they are most popular because they can offer instant feedback (Walet, 2012).

There are disadvantages, though.

First, feedback is often returned to a student immediately on competition of their assessment. While it is possible to disable the instant feedback option (this is often the case during an end of semester exam period when assessment scores must be can be ratified before release), however, this option tends to be a global ‘all on’ or ‘all off’ configuration option which is controlled centrally rather than configurable on a per-assessment basis.

If a formative in-term assessment is to be taken by multiple groups of
students, each at different times, this restriction means that answers to each question will be disclosed to the first group of students undertaking the assessment. As soon as the answers are released “into the wild” the academic integrity of the assessment is lost for subsequent student groups.

Second, the style of feedback provided to a student for each question is often limited to a simple ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ indicator. While this type of feedback has its place, it often does not provide a student with enough insight to improve their understanding of a topic that they did not answer correctly.

Most E-Assessment systems boast a wide range of question types including Multiple Choice, Multiple Response, Free Text Entry/Text Matching and Numerical questions. The design of these types of questions is often quite restrictive and formulaic, which has a knock-on effect on the quality of feedback that can be provided in each case.

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) are most prevalent as they are the most prescriptive and therefore most the straightforward to mark consistently. They are also the most amenable question types, which allow easy provision of meaningful, relevant feedback to each possible outcome chosen.
Text matching questions tend to be more problematic due to their free text entry nature. Common misspellings or case-sensitivity errors can often be accounted for by the software but they are by no means fool proof, as it is very difficult to predict in advance the range of possible variations on an answer that would be considered worthy of marks by a manual marker of a paper based equivalent of the same question.

Numerical questions are similarly restricted. An answer can be checked for accuracy or whether it is within a certain range of the correct answer, but unless it is a special purpose-built mathematical E-Assessment system the system is unlikely to have computational capability and so cannot, for example, account for “method marks” which are commonly awarded in paper-based marking.

From a pedagogical perspective, the importance of providing useful formative feedback to students at a point in their learning when they can benefit from the feedback and put it to use must not be understated (Grieve et all, 2015; Ferrell, 2012).

In this work, we propose a number of software-based solutions, which will overcome the limitations and inflexibilities of existing E-Assessment systems.

Pharmacist-led feedback workshops increase appropriate prescribing of antimicrobials

Objectives To investigate whether and how structured feedback sessions can increase rates of appropriate antimicrobial prescribing by junior doctors.

Methods This was a mixed-methods study, with a conceptual orientation towards complexity and systems thinking. Fourteen junior doctors, in their first year of training, were randomized to intervention (feedback) and 21 to control (routine practice) groups in a single UK teaching hospital. Feedback on their antimicrobial prescribing was given, in writing and via group sessions. Pharmacists assessed the appropriateness of all new antimicrobial prescriptions 2 days per week for 6 months (46 days). The mean normalized prescribing rates of suboptimal to all prescribing were compared between groups using the t-test. Thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with 10 participants investigated whether and how the intervention had impact.

Results Data were collected on 204 prescriptions for 166 patients. For the intervention group, the mean normalized rate of suboptimal to all prescribing was 0.32 ± 0.36; for the control group, it was 0.68 ± 0.36. The normalized rates of suboptimal prescribing were significantly different between the groups (P = 0.0005). The qualitative data showed that individuals' prescribing behaviour was influenced by a complex series of dynamic interactions between individual and social variables, such as interplay between personal knowledge and the expectations of others.

Conclusions The feedback intervention increased appropriate prescribing by acting as a positive stimulus within a complex network of behavioural influences. Prescribing behaviour is adaptive and can be positively influenced by structured feedback. Changing doctors' perceptions of acceptable, typical and best practice could reduce suboptimal antimicrobial prescribing.

Transposing Musical Skill: Sonification of movement as concurrent augmented feedback enhances learning in a bimanual task

Concurrent feedback provided during acquisition can enhance performance of novel tasks. The ‘guidance hypothesis’ predicts that feedback provision leads to dependence and poor performance in its absence. However, appropriately-structured feedback information provided through sound (‘sonification’) may not be subject to this effect. We test this directly using a rhythmic bimanual shape-tracing task in which participants learned to move at a 4:3 timing ratio. Sonification of movement and demonstration was compared to two other learning conditions: (1) sonification of task demonstration alone and (2) completely silent practice (control). Sonification of movement emerged as the most effective form of practice, reaching significantly lower error scores than control. Sonification of solely the demonstration, which was expected to benefit participants by perceptually unifying task requirements, did not lead to better performance than control. Good performance was maintained by participants in the sonification condition in an immediate retention test without feedback, indicating that the use of this feedback can overcome the guidance effect. On a 24-hour retention test, performance had declined and was equal between groups. We argue that this and similar findings in the feedback literature are best explained by an ecological approach to motor skill learning which places available perceptual information at the highest level of importance.

Fuzzy rule extraction from input/output data

Several alternative approaches have been discussed: Levenberg-Marquardt - no satisfactory convergence speed + local minimum, Bacterial algorithm - problems with large dimensionality (speed), Clustering - no safe criterion for number of clusters + dimentionality problem.

An embodied approach to language: the role of bodily feedback in discourse processing

Theories of embodied cognition argue that language processing arises not from amodal symbols that redescribe sensorimotor and affective experiences, but from partial simulations (reenactments) of modality-specific states. Recent findings on processing of words and sentences support such a stance emphasizing that the role of the body in the domain of language comprehension should not be overlooked or dismissed. The present research was conducted to extend prior work in two important ways. First, the role of simulation was tested with connected discourse rather than words or sentences presented in isolation. Second, both “online” and “offline” measures of discourse comprehension were taken. In Experiments 1 and 2 participants’ facial postures were manipulated to show that preparing the body for processing of emotion-congruent information improves discourse comprehension. In Experiment 3 the direction of body posture was manipulated to show that implicit properties of simulations, such as spatial dimension or location, are at least somewhat involved in processing of large language segments such as discourse. Finally, in Experiments 4 and 5 participants’ body movement and body posture were manipulated to show that even understanding of language describing metaphorical actions physically impossible to perform involves constructing a sensorimotor simulation of the described event. The major result was that compatibility between embodiment and language strongly modulated performance effectiveness in experiments on simulation of emotion and metaphorical action. The effect of simulation on comprehension of discourse implying spatial dimension was fragile. These findings support an embodied simulation account of cognition suggesting that sensorimotor and affective states are at least partially implicated in “online” and “offline” discourse comprehension.

Consistent Feedback for a Constructivist Pedagogy : a Study of Feedback on written Assessments in Cegep English Courses.

In order to determine how consistent feedback is within the English Cégep system, this study explores three key aspects of feedback provided to students: the amount of feedback provided, the nature of the feedback according to the defined criteria, and the relative importance of the three categories. Twenty-three teachers in four English departments participated in the study. Data was collected from a detailed questionnaire to give some context in terms of teacher training, experience, and assessment practices. Respondents were then asked to provide written feedback on a sample student essay. Their comments werw analysed in terms of the nature of the feedback, how consistent that feedback was between teachers, and how closely the feedback reflected the stated instructional objectives.

Developing Web Design Skills Through Group Critiquing and Feedback.

The aim of this quasi-experimental research study was to investigate whether guided small-group discussions that involved explaining, analysing or justifying design and followed a modeling session from the teacher could improve students' creativity in web design. The convenience sample comprised of 37 third year students of the ""Publication Design and Hypermedi Technology"" program at John Abbott College in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellvue, Quebec who had enrolled in the Web Design course offered in the Fall semester of 2011. The primary instrument of this study was a set of two assigments for the course. A traditional teaching method was used during the first assignment and a small-group teaching strategy was implemented during the second one. Another instrument used in this research was a questionnaire on willingness to participate in teamwork. The last instrument of this study was a questionnaire on the type of intelligences that students possessed. It is hoped that the knowledge gathered from the study will add to the information about group-work activities and critiquing in particular.