Innovating Pedagogy 2015: Open University Innovation Report 4

This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This fourth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University collaborated with researchers from the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. We proposed a long list of new educational terms, theories, and practices. We then pared these down to ten that have the potential to provoke major shifts in educational practice, particularly in post-school education. Lastly, we drew on published and unpublished writings to compile the ten sketches of new pedagogies that might transform education. These are summarised below in an approximate order of immediacy and timescale to widespread implementation

An Online Tutor for Astronomy: The GEAS Self-Review Library

We introduce an interactive online resource for use by students and college instructors in introductory astronomy courses. The General Education Astronomy Source (GEAS) online tutor guides students developing mastery of core astronomical concepts and mathematical applications of general astronomy material. It contains over 12,000 questions, with linked hints and solutions. Students who master the material quickly can advance through the topics, while under-prepared or hesitant students can focus on questions on a certain topic for as long as needed, with minimal repetition. Students receive individual accounts for study and course instructors are provided with overview tracking information, by time and by topic, for entire cohorts of students. Diagnostic tools support self-evaluation and close collaboration between instructor and student, even for distance learners. An initial usage study shows clear trends in performance which increase with study time, and indicates that distance learners using these materials perform as well as or better than a comparison cohort of on-campus astronomy students. We are actively seeking new collaborators to use this resource in astronomy courses and other educational venues.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures; Vogt, N. P., and A. S. Muise. 2015. An online tutor for general astronomy: The GEAS self-review library. Cogent Education, 2 (1

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

The GREAT Reading Project (Gifted Readers Enhance Academic Talent): a gifted-on-gifted, cross-age tutoring and mentoring intervention

The GREAT (Gifted Readers Enhance Academic Talent) Reading Project is a quasi-experimental, between-group study that evaluated a 13-week before-school student tutoring/mentoring reading and literacy program. The study examined the effects of the intervention on reading achievement for each group involved, including high-ability gifted fifth grade mentors, high-ability gifted first grade protégés, and above-average first grade “Scholastic Academy” protégés. Its primary goal was to improve academic achievement for above-average students in order to help them formally qualify for gifted services. The secondary goal was to promote and assess academic growth for high-ability students already in the gifted program. Mentor/protégé pairs met 3-4 times per week under the monitoring and supervision of certified elementary school teachers. Student pairs interacted as necessary to accomplish learning tasks such as decoding, fluency, and critical reading skills that promote reading comprehension. Pairs read and discussed picture books, chapter books, children’s magazines, and/or assigned books or stories. Some flexibility existed in the program, based on student interest and materials available. Control groups received traditional reading instruction instead of tutoring. The subjects included above-average and high-ability first and fifth grade students. The treatment group consisted of approximately 20 first graders and 20 fifth graders. First graders and fifth graders were paired for compatibility. A similar sized control group was chosen from other gifted sites. Criterion sampling (qualification to participate in the gifted/talented program in the local public school system) was used to select the treatment and control groups. The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, Fourth Edition, a standardized, norm-referenced instrument used to assess reading achievement, was used as a pre- and posttest to assess growth in reading. One-way (for the fifth graders) and Two-way ANOVA (for the 1st graders) was used to determine the effectiveness of the intervention for each group of participants. Surveys were administered to each grade level of the treatment group to evaluate the social validity of the intervention, in an attempt to determine the social significance or importance of the goals, the social appropriateness of the procedures, and the social importance of the effects or outcomes (the personal benefit) for the participants

Chapter 4: New Assessment Methods

The OTiS (Online Teaching in Scotland) programme, run by the now defunct Scotcit programme, ran an International e-Workshop on Developing Online Tutoring Skills which was held between 8–12 May 2000. It was organised by Heriot–Watt University, Edinburgh and The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK. Out of this workshop came the seminal Online Tutoring E-Book, a generic primer on e-learning pedagogy and methodology, full of practical implementation guidelines. Although the Scotcit programme ended some years ago, the E-Book has been copied to the SONET site as a series of PDF files, which are now available via the ALT Open Access Repository. The editor, Carol Higgison, is currently working in e-learning at the University of Bradford (see her staff profile) and is the Chair of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT)

Logistic Knowledge Tracing: A Constrained Framework for Learner Modeling

Adaptive learning technology solutions often use a learner model to trace learning and make pedagogical decisions. The present research introduces a formalized methodology for specifying learner models, Logistic Knowledge Tracing (LKT), that consolidates many extant learner modeling methods. The strength of LKT is the specification of a symbolic notation system for alternative logistic regression models that is powerful enough to specify many extant models in the literature and many new models. To demonstrate the generality of LKT, we fit 12 models, some variants of well-known models and some newly devised, to 6 learning technology datasets. The results indicated that no single learner model was best in all cases, further justifying a broad approach that considers multiple learner model features and the learning context. The models presented here avoid student-level fixed parameters to increase generalizability. We also introduce features to stand in for these intercepts. We argue that to be maximally applicable, a learner model needs to adapt to student differences, rather than needing to be pre-parameterized with the level of each student's ability

IRT-Based Adaptive Hints to Scaffold Learning in Programming

Over the past few decades, many studies conducted in the field of learning science have described that scaffolding plays an important role in human learning. To scaffold a learner efficiently, a teacher should predict how much support a learner must have to complete tasks and then decide the optimal degree of assistance to support the learner\u27s development. Nevertheless, it is difficult to ascertain the optimal degree of assistance for learner development. For this study, it is assumed that optimal scaffolding is based on a probabilistic decision rule: Given a teacher\u27s assistance to facilitate the learner development, an optimal probability exists for a learner to solve a task. To ascertain that optimal probability, we developed a scaffolding system that provides adaptive hints to adjust the predictive probability of the learner\u27s successful performance to the previously determined certain value, using a probabilistic model, i.e., item response theory (IRT). Furthermore, using the scaffolding system, we compared learning performances by changing the predictive probability. Results show that scaffolding to achieve 0.5 learner success probability provides the best performance. Additionally, results demonstrate that a scaffolding system providing 0.5 probability decreases the number of hints (amount of support) automatically as a fading function according to the learner\u27s growth capability

Intelligent tutoring systems for systems engineering methodologies

The general goal is to provide the technology required to build systems that can provide intelligent tutoring in IDEF (Integrated Computer Aided Manufacturing Definition Method) modeling. The following subject areas are covered: intelligent tutoring systems for systems analysis methodologies; IDEF tutor architecture and components; developing cognitive skills for IDEF modeling; experimental software; and PC based prototype