How to throw chocolate at students : a survey of extrinsic means for increased audience attention

This paper presents an overview of established and innovative means and teaching approaches that contribute to higher students' attention during lecture. The results are based on an international survey among lecturers from eleven universities. This survey was initiated by three lecturers from different countries who met at EDUCON 2016. The objective was to collect teaching experiences about playful means that motivate students to be attentive during a lecture. The proposed teaching approaches fall into three categories: established teaching methods, unconventional extrinsic methods, and tools. We focus on the extrinsic methods and discuss 14 illustrative examples of these approaches

Integrated Circuits Testing: Remote Access to Test Equipment for Labs and Engineering

This paper concerns the local and remote use of an Integrated Circuits (IC) Automated Test Equipment (ATE) for both educational and engineering purposes. This experience was initiated in 1998 in the context of a French network (CNFM) in order to provide a distant control to industrial equipment for academic and industrial people. The actual shared resource is a Verigy V93K System on Chip (SoC) tester platform. The cost of such an equipment is close to 1Mâ?¬, without taking into account the maintenance and attached human resources expenses to make it work properly daily. Although the sharing of this equipment seems to be obvious for education, the French experience is quite a unique example in the world. Here, practical information regarding IC testing and network setup for remote access are detailed, together with the associated training program

Best practices in e-assessments with a special focus on cheating prevention

In this digital age of the computer, Internet, and social media and Internet of Things, e-assessments have become an accepted method to determine if students have learned materials presented in a course. With acceptance of this electronic means of assessing students, many questions arise about this method. What should be the format of e-assessment? What amount of time? What kinds of questions should be asked (multiple choice, short answer, etc.)? These are only a few of the many different questions. In addition, educators have always had to contend with the possibility that some students might cheat on an examination. It is widely known that students are often times more technologically savvy than their professors. So how does one prevent students from cheating on an e-assessment? Understandably, given the amount of information available on e-assessments and the variety of formats to choose from, choosing to administer e-assessments over paper-based assessments can lead to confusion on the part of the professor. This paper presents helpful guidance for lecturers who want to introduce e-assessments in their class, and it provides recommendations about the technical infrastructure to implement to avoid students cheating. It is based on literature review, on an international survey that gathers insights and experiences from lecturers who are using e-assessment in their class, and on technological evaluation of e-assessment infrastructure