Introducing Low-Stakes Just-in-Time Assessments to a Flipped Software Engineering Course

Objective: We present a Teaching-as-Research project that implements a new intervention in a flipped software engineering course over two semesters. The short-term objective of the intervention was to improve students’ preparedness for live sessions. The long-term objective was to improve their knowledge retention evaluated in time-separated high-stakes assessments. Intervention: The intervention involved adding weekly low-stakes just-in-time assessments to course modules to motivate students to review assigned instructional materials in a timely manner. The assessments consisted of, per course module, two preparatory quizzes embedded within off-class instructional materials and a non-embedded in-class quiz. Method: Embedded assessments were deployed to two subgroups of students in an alternating manner. In-class assessments were deployed to all students. The impact of embedded assessments on in-class assessments and on final exam performance was measured. Results: Embedded assessments improved students’ preparedness for live sessions. The effect was statistically significant, but variable. Embedded assessments did not impact long-term knowledge retention assessed on final exam. We have decided to keep the intervention and deploy it to all students in the future

Best Practice: Synergien aus Präsenz- und digitaler Lehre in der hochschulischen Mathematikausbildung

Die Entwicklung der Präsenz- und digitalen Lehre sowie ein mögliches hybrides Konzept werden in diesem Artikel erläutert. Weiterhin wird auf die aktuellen medialen Bedürfnisse der Studierenden eingegangen

Flipping a Course on Computer Architecture

This paper reports on an experiment with a flipped classroom for a Computer Architecture course. In a flipped classroom, students access content out of the classroom and then engage in a discussion in-class, rather than the other way around. This seemed like an ideal strategy for a course that can easily focus on the minutiae of architectural details and computer history. The results showed that students liked the interactive and practical aspects of the course but were particularly negative about pre-lecture readings. These results suggest that students need to learn how to learn in different ways, and move away from the exclusive strategy of in-classroom, content-centric lectures

Assessing Learning Strategies with an Educational Video

Even though educational films and videos have been in used for a century, there remains insufficient research into efficacious learning strategies that can be used alongside them. This study sought to investigate active learning strategies as a method to improve learning from video. This true experimental study, supported and informed by qualitative data, examined three active learning strategies utilized within video-based instruction: Guided Notetaking, Personal Notetaking, and Guided Summaries. Outcome measures included three dimensions of learning (factual, conceptual, and procedural) on an immediate posttest, perceptions of extrinsic cognitive load, likelihood that participants would use the strategies again, how often participants paused the video, time-on-task, quality of strategy usage, and commonly shared experiences. While there were no significant differences between groups on general measures of learning, when the scores of only those participants who crafted high quality products (notes or summaries) were compared, the Guided Notetaking group scored significantly higher than the Guided Summaries on factual learning. These results suggest that quality of strategy usage is a factor that should be included in research examining active learning strategies with educational videos. The Guided Notetaking group experienced significantly higher perceived extrinsic cognitive load than the other groups. Participants in the Personal Notetaking group reported significantly higher likelihood that they would use these strategies again compared to the other groups. Participants in the Guided Notetaking strategy paused the video significantly more often than participants in the other groups. Analysis of commonly shared subjective experiences indicated that Guided Notetaking was difficult for several reasons: matching of the video content with the notes, switching back and forth between the video and notes (which some perceived as detracting from their learning), and the constant pausing of the video this strategy required. Personal Notetaking was perceived as the easiest of the three strategies, only slightly easier than the Guided Summaries. Suggestions for implementation of strategies, future research, and production of educational videos are also provided

Investigating the Impact of Organised Technology-driven Orchestration on Teaching

Orchestration of learning involves the real-time management of activities performed by educators in learning environments, with a particular focus on the effective use of technology. While different educational settings present unique problems, the common challenges have been noted to primarily be as a result of multiple heterogeneous activities and their associated intrinsic and extrinsic constraints. In addition to these challenges, this thesis argues that the complexities of orchestration are further amplified due to the ad hoc nature of the approaches and techniques used to orchestrate learning activities. The thesis proposes a streamlined approach to technology-driven orchestration of learning, in order to address these challenges and complexities. Specifically, the thesis proposes an organised approach that focuses on three core aspects of orchestration: activity management, resource management and sequencing of learning activities. Orchestration was comprehensively explored in order to identify the core aspects essential for streamlining technology-driven orchestration. Proof-of-concept orchestration toolkits, based on the proposed orchestration approach, were implemented and evaluated in order to assess the feasibility of the approach, its effectiveness and its potential impact on the teaching experience. Comparative analysis and guided orchestration controlled studies were conducted to compare the effectiveness of ad hoc orchestration with streamlined orchestration and to measure the orchestration load, respectively. In addition, a case study of a course that employed a flipped classroom strategy was conducted to assess the feasibility of the proposed approach. The feasibility was further assessed by integrating a workflow, based on the proposed approach, that facilitates the sharing of reusable orchestration packages. The results from the studies suggest that the streamlined approach is more effective when compared to ad hoc orchestration and has a potential to provide a positive user experience. The results also indicate that the approach imposes acceptable orchestration load during scripting of learning activities. Case studies conducted in authentic educational settings suggest that the approach is feasible, and potentially applicable to useful practical usage scenarios. The long-term implications are that streamlining of technology-driven orchestration could potentially improve the effectiveness of educators when orchestrating learning activities