Towards a quantitative evaluation of the relationship between the domain knowledge and the ability to assess peer work

In this work we present the preliminary results provided by the statistical modeling of the cognitive relationship between the knowledge about a topic a the ability to assess peer achievements on the same topic. Our starting point is Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives in the cognitive domain, and our outcomes confirm the hypothesized ranking. A further consideration that can be derived is that meta-cognitive abilities (e.g., assessment) require deeper domain knowledge

On-line assessment for e-learning: options and opportunities

The desire to produce educational multi-media packages of ever greater sophistication is such that other, more problematic, elements of e- or on- line learning receive less attention by academics and courseware developers alike. One such problematic area is that of assessment, which is surprising, as e-learning assessment procedures are more critical in defining the learning that takes place. However, because e-learning can create a much richer, more varied active learning experience than would normally occur via the passive didactic teaching mode currently utilised in most universities and centred on the use of the lecture, it also has the potential to provide new and innovative assessments modes and systems. The extent to which the potential of innovatory assessment is realised via e-learning depends on two factors. First, the level of computer component and interactivity utilised in elearning. Second, the attitude of academic staff towards their teaching role, and, more specifically, how they operate within an elearning environment. The speed of the development in online technologies and techniques is such that the information given here will not provide all the answers, it should, nevertheless, enable some of the correct questions to be pose

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

DIDET: Digital libraries for distributed, innovative design education and teamwork. Final project report

The central goal of the DIDET Project was to enhance student learning opportunities by enabling them to partake in global, team based design engineering projects, in which they directly experience different cultural contexts and access a variety of digital information sources via a range of appropriate technology. To achieve this overall project goal, the project delivered on the following objectives: 1. Teach engineering information retrieval, manipulation, and archiving skills to students studying on engineering degree programs. 2. Measure the use of those skills in design projects in all years of an undergraduate degree program. 3. Measure the learning performance in engineering design courses affected by the provision of access to information that would have been otherwise difficult to access. 4. Measure student learning performance in different cultural contexts that influence the use of alternative sources of information and varying forms of Information and Communications Technology. 5. Develop and provide workshops for staff development. 6. Use the measurement results to annually redesign course content and the digital libraries technology. The overall DIDET Project approach was to develop, implement, use and evaluate a testbed to improve the teaching and learning of students partaking in global team based design projects. The use of digital libraries and virtual design studios was used to fundamentally change the way design engineering is taught at the collaborating institutions. This was done by implementing a digital library at the partner institutions to improve learning in the field of Design Engineering and by developing a Global Team Design Project run as part of assessed classes at Strathclyde, Stanford and Olin. Evaluation was carried out on an ongoing basis and fed back into project development, both on the class teaching model and the LauLima system developed at Strathclyde to support teaching and learning. Major findings include the requirement to overcome technological, pedagogical and cultural issues for successful elearning implementations. A need for strong leadership has been identified, particularly to exploit the benefits of cross-discipline team working. One major project output still being developed is a DIDET Project Framework for Distributed Innovative Design, Education and Teamwork to encapsulate all project findings and outputs. The project achieved its goal of embedding major change to the teaching of Design Engineering and Strathclyde's new Global Design class has been both successful and popular with students

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

SPARKPLUS for Self- and Peer Assessment on Group-Based Honours’ Research Projects

This paper explores an application of an online tool SPARKPLUS (Self and Peer Assessment Resource Kit) for the self and peer assessment on the group-based Honours’ research projects. The Honours’ research projects in School of Civil, Environmental Engineering at University of Adelaide are running in a small group of students (typically four students or less) working with an academic supervisor in a selected area for one year. Since the research project is self-directed study, it is very difficult to fairly assess the contribution of individual students to the group-based research project. The paper-based method of self and peer assessment for the Honour’s research projects was used in the previous years. The same mark was often distributed and no feedback was given. Both the students and academic staff were not satisfied with the paper-based method of self and peer assessment. Thus an online tool SPARK PLUS together with a set of assessment criteria was used for the self and peer assessment of the Honours’ research projects in 2010. Thirty-seven groups participated in the self and peer assessment of using SPARK PLUS in semester one 2010 and a series of results from the online self and peer assessment were obtained and analysed. Feedback sessions were held and substantial feedback was received from students. Based on the feedback, suggestions were made on improving use of the online tool for self and peer assessment on the Honours’ research project.Chengqing Wu, Emmanuel Chanda and John Willisonhttp://www.adelaide.edu.au/erg

A Collaborative Lecture in Information Retrieval for Students at Universities in Germany and Switzerland

K3, work in progress, is an acronym for Kollaboration (collaboration), Kommunikation (communication), and Kompetenz (competence). K3 provides a platform in the context of knowledge management to support collaborative knowledge production in learning environments. The underlying hypothesis states that collaborative discourse conciliates information as well as communication competence in learning contexts. The collaborative, communicative paradigm of K3 is implemented by asynchronous communication tools as a means of constructivist learning methodology. In this paper we will describe a K3 course. The lecture was organized and carried out at two places in two different countries (Germany and Switzerland) with students from different universities in the context of Library and Information Science. The paper informs about the management of the lecture and about the problems we had to run the lecture at two places. The circumstances in coordinating the presentations, the exercises, the examinations and evaluation, and the time schedule are presented. The conclusions of the lecturers and the results of a questionnaire for the students are explained in detail