A digital ecosystems model of assessment feedback on student learning

The term ecosystem has been used to describe complex interactions between living organisms and the physical world. The principles underlying ecosystems can also be applied to complex human interactions in the digital world. As internet technologies make an increasing contribution to teaching and learning practice in higher education, the principles of digital ecosystems may help us understand how to maximise technology to benefit active, self-regulated learning especially among groups of learners. Here, feedback on student learning is presented within a conceptual digital ecosystems model of learning. Additionally, we have developed a Web 2.0-based system, called ASSET, which incorporates multimedia and social networking features to deliver assessment feedback within the functionality of the digital ecosystems model. Both the digital ecosystems model and the ASSET system are described and their implications for enhancing feedback on student learning are discussed.

Student attitudes towards cooperative learning in education

Abstract: Active or participatory learning by the student within a classroom environment has been fairly recently recognized as an effective, efficient, and superior instructional technique yet few teachers in higher education have adopted this pedagogical strategy. This is especially true in Science where teachers primarily lecture to passively seated students while using static visual aids or multimedia projections. Teachers generally teach as they were taught and lecture formats have been the norm. Although student-learning theories as well as student learning styles, abilities, and understanding strategies have changed, traditional teaching techniques have not evolved past the ���chalk and talk��� instructional strategy. This research looked into student���s perceptions of cooperative learning or team-based active learning in order to gain insight and some understanding as to how students felt about this learning technique. Student���s attitudes were then compared to student grades to detennine whether cooperative learning impeded or ameliorated academic performance. The results revealed significant differences measured in all the survey questions pertaining to perception or attitudes. As a result of the cooperative learning activities, respondents indicated more agreement to the survey questions pertaining to the benefits of cooperative learning. The experimental group exposed to cooperative learning thus experienced more positive attitudes and perceptions than the groups exposed only to a lecture-based teaching and learning format. Each of the hypotheses tested demonstrated that students had more positive attitudes towards cooperative learning strategies. Recommendations as to future work were presented in order to gain a greater understanding into both student and teacher attitudes towards the cooperative learning model.||R��sum��: Lapprentissage actif ou pr��paratoire par l��tudiant au sein d���une classe a ��t�� reconnu assez r��cemment comme une technique d���enseignement plus efficace. Cependant, peu d���enseignants ont adopt�� cette strat��gie pedagogique pour l'��ducation post-secondaire. Ceci est particuli��rement le cas dans le domaine des sciences o�� les enseignants font surtout usage de cours magistraux avec des ��tudiants passifs tout en utilisant des aides visuelles statiques ou des projections multim��dias. Les professeurs enseignent generalement comme on leur a eux-m��me enseign�� et les cours magistraux ont ��t�� la norme par le pass��. Les techniques traditionnelles d'enseignernent n'ont pas ��volu�� au-del�� de la craie et du tableau noir et ce m��me si les th��ories sur l���apprentissage par les ��tudiants ont chang��, tout comme les styles, les habilet��s et les strat��gies de compr��hension d���apprentissage des ��tudiants. Cette recherche se penche sur les perceptions des ��tudiants au sujet de l'apprentissage coop��ratif ou de l'apprentissage actif par ��quipe de telle sorte qu'on puisse avoir un aper��u et une certaine compr��hension de comment les ��tudiants se sentent par rapport �� ces techniques d'apprentissage. Les attitudes des ��tudiants ont par la suite ��t�� compar��es aux notes de ceux-ci pour d��terminer si l'apprentissage coop��ratif avait nui ou au contraire am��lior�� leurs performances acad��miques. Les r��sultats obtenus dans l'��tude d'ensemble r��v��lent des diff��rences significatives dans toutes les questions ayant trait �� la perception et aux attitudes.

Use of web-based formative assessment to support student learning in metabolism/nutrition unit

In 2002, an integrated basic science course was introduced into the Bachelor of Dental Sciences programme at the University of Queensland, Australia. Learning activities for the Metabolism and Nutrition unit within this integrated course included lectures, problem-based learning tutorials, computer-based self-directed learning exercises and practicals. To support student learning and assist students to develop the skills necessary to become lifelong learners, an extensive bank of formative assessment questions was set up using the commercially available package, WebCT��. Questions included short-answer, multiple-choice and extended matching questions. As significant staff time was involved in setting up the question database, the extent to which students used the formative assessment and their perceptions of its usefulness to their learning were evaluated to determine whether formative assessment should be extended to other units within the course. More than 90% of the class completed formative assessment tasks associated with learning activities scheduled in the first two weeks of the block, but this declined to less than 50% by the fourth and final week of the block. Patterns of usage of the formative assessment were also compared in students who scored in the top 10% for all assessment for the semester with those who scored in the lowest 10%. High-performing students accessed the Web-based formative assessment about twice as often as those who scored in the lowest band. However, marks for the formative assessment tests did not differ significantly between the two groups. In a questionnaire that was administered at the completion of the block, students rated the formative assessment highly, with 80% regarding it as being helpful for their learning. In conclusion, although substantial staff time was required to set up the question database, this appeared to be justified by the positive responses of the students.

Evaluating the impact of a web-based resource on student learning

This paper reports on an experiment of using a publisher provided web-based resource to make available a series of optional practice quizzes and other supplementary material to all students taking a first year introductory microeconomics module. The empirical analysis evaluates the impact these supplementary resources had on student learning. First, we investigate which students decided to make use of the resources. Then, we analyse the impact this decision has on their subsequent performance in the examination at the end of the module. The results show that, even after taking into account the possibility of self-selection bias, using the web-based resource had a significant positive effect on student learning.

Development and validation of an instrument to predict online student success using faculty perceptions

Distance learning is growing and transforming educational institutions. The increasing use of distance learning by higher education institutions and particularly community colleges coupled with the higher level of student attrition in online courses than in traditional classrooms suggests that increased attention should be paid to factors that affect online student course completion. The purpose of the study was to develop and validate an instrument to predict community college online student course completion based on faculty perceptions, yielding a prediction model of online course completion rates. Social Presence and Media Richness theories were used to develop a theoretically-driven measure of online course completion. This research study involved surveying 311 community college faculty who taught at least one online course in the past 2 years. Email addresses of participating faculty were provided by two south Florida community colleges. Each participant was contacted through email, and a link to an Internet survey was given. The survey response rate was 63% (192 out of 303 available questionnaires). Data were analyzed through factor analysis, alpha reliability, and multiple regression. The exploratory factor analysis using principal component analysis with varimax rotation yielded a four-factor solution that accounted for 48.8% of the variance. Consistent with Social Presence theory, the factors with their percent of variance in parentheses were: immediacy (21.2%), technological immediacy (11.0%), online communication and interactivity (10.3%), and intimacy (6.3%). Internal consistency of the four factors was calculated using Cronbach's alpha (1951) with reliability coefficients ranging between .680 and .828. Multiple regression analysis yielded a model that significantly predicted 11% of the variance of the dependent variable, the percentage of student who completed the online course. As indicated in the literature (Johnson & Keil, 2002; Newberry, 2002), Media Richness theory appears to be closely related to Social Presence theory. However, elements from this theory did not emerge in the factor analysis.

The nurse lecturer role in clinical practice conceptualized: helping clinical teachers provide optimal student learning

Despite the fairly wide reporting in the literature of the ma ny roles of clinical supervision by the nursing teacher, little attention has been given to conceptualizing the relative priorities these roles take during the process of supervising nursing students in clinical practice. The purpose of this paper is to consider the manifestations and implications of conflicting roles when nurse lecturers undertake clinical supervision. Previously published research will provide working examples of issues in a conceptual framework for clinical teaching.

The tutor's role in student learning

Higher education in Portugal, in the last forty years, has undergone profound changes with the enlargement of public higher education network, the appearance of new institutions, the quantity and the heterogeneity of students. The implementation of the Bologna Process in European community countries led to the redesign of higher education Portuguese courses as well as their corresponding curricula. In recent years, the use of Project-led education was one of the most significant changes in teaching and learning, particularly in engineering in higher education in Portugal. This teaching methodology encourages students and teachers to undertake new roles, new responsibilities and a new learning perspective. This study aims at understanding whether the role of the tutor is to be suitable to the needs and expectations of Project-led education students. These changes however are not only structural. At the University of Minho, new teaching and learning methodologies were adopted, which could guide the training of professionals on to the twenty-first century. The opportunity arising from the implementation of Project-led education in Engineering methodology was used in the University of Minho���s courses. This teaching method is intended to provide students with educational support programs that benefit the academic performance, allowing the opportunity to upgrade, train and develop the ability to study and learn more effectively. Through the Project-led education it is possible to provide students with techniques and procedures and develop the ability to communicate orally and in writing. Students and teachers have assumed new roles in the teaching-learning process allowing in one hand the students to explore, discover and question themselves about some knowledge and on the other hand the teachers to change to a tutor, a companion and to a student project guide. Therefore, surveys were analyzed, comprising questions about the most significant contribution of the tutor as well as if there are some initial expectations that have not been foreseen by the tutor.

Speed of convergence of recursive least squares learning with ARMA perceptions

This paper fills a gap in the existing literature on least squareslearning in linear rational expectations models by studying a setup inwhich agents learn by fitting ARMA models to a subset of the statevariables. This is a natural specification in models with privateinformation because in the presence of hidden state variables, agentshave an incentive to condition forecasts on the infinite past recordsof observables. We study a particular setting in which it sufficesfor agents to fit a first order ARMA process, which preserves thetractability of a finite dimensional parameterization, while permittingconditioning on the infinite past record. We describe how previousresults (Marcet and Sargent [1989a, 1989b] can be adapted to handlethe convergence of estimators of an ARMA process in our self--referentialenvironment. We also study ``rates'' of convergence analytically and viacomputer simulation.

Gesti��n de la actividad no presencial y autoevaluaci��n de competencias = Management of student learning outside the classroom and the self-evaluation of competences

La asignatura troncal ���Evaluaci��n Psicol��gica��� de los estudios de Psicolog��a y delestudio de grado ���Desarrollo humano en la sociedad de la informaci��n��� de laUniversidad de Girona consta de 12 cr��ditos seg��n la Ley Org��nica de Universidades.Hasta el a��o acad��mico 2004-05 el trabajo no presencial del alumno consist��a en larealizaci��n de una evaluaci��n psicol��gica que se entregaba por escrito a final de curso yde la cual el estudiante obten��a una calificaci��n y revisi��n si se solicitaba. En el caminohacia el Espacio Europeo de Educaci��n Superior, esta asignatura consta de 9 cr��ditosque equivalen a un total de 255 horas de trabajo presencial y no presencial delestudiante. En los a��os acad��micos 2005-06 y 2006-07 se ha creado una gu��a de trabajopara la gesti��n de la actividad no presencial con el objetivo de alcanzar aprendizajes anivel de aplicaci��n y soluci��n de problemas/pensamiento cr��tico (Bloom, 1975)siguiendo las recomendaciones de la Agencia para la Calidad del Sistema Universitariode Catalu��a (2005). La gu��a incorpora: los objetivos de aprendizaje, los criterios deevaluaci��n, la descripci��n de las actividades, el cronograma semanal de trabajos paratodo el curso, la especificaci��n de las tutor��as programadas para la revisi��n de losdiversos pasos del proceso de evaluaci��n psicol��gica y el uso del foro para elconocimiento, an��lisis y cr��tica constructiva de las evaluaciones realizadas por loscompa��eros

Gesti��n de la actividad no presencial y autoevaluaci��n de competencias = Management of Student Learning Outside the Classroom and the Self-evaluation of Competences

Psychological Assessment is a core subject of Psychology studies, and of the university degree Human development, at the University of Girona and according to the University regulations, had 12 credits. Until the 2005-06 academic years, the student work conducted outside the classroom consisted of undertaking a psychological assessment that was written and handed in at the end of the course. From this the student obtained a qualification and a review if they applied for it In accordance with the European Credits for Higher Education, this subject was reduced to 9 credits, which is the equivalent of a total of 255 hours of in-class work and outside the classroom. In the 2006-07 academic year we created a guide to manage the student���s experiences outside the classroom, with the objective of encouraging the application of problem solving/critical thinking (Bloom, 1975), in line with the recommendations of the Catalonia Agency for University System Quality (2005). The guide includes: learning objectives, evaluation criterions, a description of activities, work week timetable for the whole course, programmed tutorials to review all steps of the psychological assessment process, and the use of a web-based virtual forum for the transfer of knowledge, analysis and constructive critiques of the assessment done by themselves and their colleagues

Enhancing Student Learning: Study of a Motivational Resource for Educators

This study surveyed practicing classroom teacher���s perceptions of a proposed educational resource ���Avatar Academy��� designed to enhance students���, particularly young boys, motivation and general attitude towards learning. The Avatar Academy resource is an instructional guide for implementing a classroom reward system based on common game mechanics. The resource emphasizes the modification of current pedagogies to exploit the use of game design to engage boys. A survey of recent literature indicated an opportunity to study teachers��� perceptions of the possible applications of game design mechanics to support the enhancement of student motivation and learning in the classroom. As a result the Avatar Academy handbook and blog resource were developed to assist teachers with the integration and administration of a program designed to enhance student motivation, especially boys, using avatars and a point based reward system. The resources were initially distributed to several practicing teachers for their review, and their feedback formed the basis for revisions of the Avatar Academy resource. After implementing changes to the resource based on initial teacher feedback, an updated Avatar Academy was redistributed and teacher opinions and perceptions of the tool���s possible impacts on classroom learning were collected.

Gesti��n de la actividad no presencial y autoevaluaci��n de competencias = Management of student learning outside the classroom and the self-evaluation of competences

La asignatura troncal ���Evaluaci��n Psicol��gica��� de los estudios de Psicolog��a y del estudio de grado ���Desarrollo humano en la sociedad de la informaci��n��� de la Universidad de Girona consta de 12 cr��ditos seg��n la Ley Org��nica de Universidades. Hasta el a��o acad��mico 2004-05 el trabajo no presencial del alumno consist��a en la realizaci��n de una evaluaci��n psicol��gica que se entregaba por escrito a final de curso y de la cual el estudiante obten��a una calificaci��n y revisi��n si se solicitaba. En el camino hacia el Espacio Europeo de Educaci��n Superior, esta asignatura consta de 9 cr��ditos que equivalen a un total de 255 horas de trabajo presencial y no presencial del estudiante. En los a��os acad��micos 2005-06 y 2006-07 se ha creado una gu��a de trabajo para la gesti��n de la actividad no presencial con el objetivo de alcanzar aprendizajes a nivel de aplicaci��n y soluci��n de problemas/pensamiento cr��tico (Bloom, 1975) siguiendo las recomendaciones de la Agencia para la Calidad del Sistema Universitario de Catalu��a (2005). La gu��a incorpora: los objetivos de aprendizaje, los criterios de evaluaci��n, la descripci��n de las actividades, el cronograma semanal de trabajos para todo el curso, la especificaci��n de las tutor��as programadas para la revisi��n de los diversos pasos del proceso de evaluaci��n psicol��gica y el uso del foro para el conocimiento, an��lisis y cr��tica constructiva de las evaluaciones realizadas por los compa��eros