Scoping a vision for formative e-assessment: a project report for JISC

Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning. If the relationship between teaching and learning were causal, i. e. if students always mastered the intended learning outcomes of a particular sequence of instruction, assessment would be superfluous. Experience and research suggest this is not the case: what is learnt can often be quite different from what is taught. Formative assessment is motivated by a concern with the elicitation of relevant information about student understanding and / or achievement, its interpretation and an exploration of how it can lead to actions that result in better learning. In the context of a policy drive towards technology-enhanced approaches to teaching and learning, the question of the role of digital technologies is key and it is the latter on which this project particularly focuses. The project and its deliverables have been informed by recent and relevant literature, in particular recent work by Black andIn this work, they put forward a framework which suggests that assessment for learning their term for formative assessment can be conceptualised as consisting of a number of aspects and five keystrategies. The key aspects revolve around the where the learner is going, where the learner is right now and how she can get there and examines the role played by the teacher, peers and the learner. Language: English Keywords: assessments, case studies, design patterns, e-assessmen

Systematic development of courseware systems

Various difficulties have been reported in relation to the development of courseware systems. A central problem is to address the needs of not only the learner, but also instructor, developer, and other stakeholders, and to integrate these different needs. Another problem area is courseware architectures, to which much work has been dedicated recently. We present a systematic approach to courseware development – a methodology for courseware engineering – that addresses these problems. This methodology is rooted in the educational domain and is based on methods for software development in this context. We illustrate how this methodology can improve the quality of courseware systems and the development process

ICOPER Project - Deliverable 4.3 ISURE: Recommendations for extending effective reuse, embodied in the ICOPER CD&R

The purpose of this document is to capture the ideas and recommendations, within and beyond the ICOPER community, concerning the reuse of learning content, including appropriate methodologies as well as established strategies for remixing and repurposing reusable resources. The overall remit of this work focuses on describing the key issues that are related to extending effective reuse embodied in such materials. The objective of this investigation, is to support the reuse of learning content whilst considering how it could be originally created and then adapted with that ‘reuse’ in mind. In these circumstances a survey on effective reuse best practices can often provide an insight into the main challenges and benefits involved in the process of creating, remixing and repurposing what we are now designating as Reusable Learning Content (RLC). Several key issues are analysed in this report: Recommendations for extending effective reuse, building upon those described in the previous related deliverables 4.1 Content Development Methodologies and 4.2 Quality Control and Web 2.0 technologies. The findings of this current survey, however, provide further recommendations and strategies for using and developing this reusable learning content. In the spirit of ‘reuse’, this work also aims to serve as a foundation for the many different stakeholders and users within, and beyond, the ICOPER community who are interested in reusing learning resources. This report analyses a variety of information. Evidence has been gathered from a qualitative survey that has focused on the technical and pedagogical recommendations suggested by a Special Interest Group (SIG) on the most innovative practices with respect to new media content authors (for content authoring or modification) and course designers (for unit creation). This extended community includes a wider collection of OER specialists. This collected evidence, in the form of video and audio interviews, has also been represented as multimedia assets potentially helpful for learning and useful as learning content in the New Media Space (See section 4 for further details). Section 2 of this report introduces the concept of reusable learning content and reusability. Section 3 discusses an application created by the ICOPER community to enhance the opportunities for developing reusable content. Section 4 of this report provides an overview of the methodology used for the qualitative survey. Section 5 presents a summary of thematic findings. Section 6 highlights a list of recommendations for effective reuse of educational content, which were derived from thematic analysis described in Appendix A. Finally, section 7 summarises the key outcomes of this work

Addressing drop-out and sustained effort issues with large practical groups using an automated delivery and assessment system

The acquisition of programming skills specially in introductory programming courses poses an important challenge for freshmen students of engineering programs. These courses require students to devote a sustained effort during the whole course and a failure to do so may contribute to not passing the course. However, it is difficult for the teaching staff to deploy measures to enforce a pattern of continuous work without significantly increasing the required management tasks. A significant reduction of this workload can be achieved with the automation of time consuming tasks such as the delivery of activities or submission grading. This paper presents a case of study where a technology based orchestration of learning scripts was applied in a large enrollment course to promote student sustained effort through the course and keep the workload on teaching staff within reasonable margins. The orchestration system, based on IMS Learning Design and Generic Service Integration, automatically evaluated the student submissions and gradually unlocked the following activities depending on the received results. Such system was used during a semester supporting 425 students and 8 instructors. The analysis of the case of study followed a mixed method based on qualitative and quantitative data, and revealed a significant reduction of the orchestration workload on the teaching staff, allowing the strategy of continuous work to be applied in a course with high enrollment. Additionally, the application of these techniques show statistically significant differences in the drop out rate with respect to previous editions of the course.Work partially funded by the EEE project, “Plan Nacional de I+D+I TIN2011-28308-C03-01” and the “Emadrid: Investigación y desarrollo de tecnologías para el e-learning en la Comunidad de Madrid” project (S2009/TIC-1650)

Managing evolution and change in web-based teaching and learning environments

The state of the art in information technology and educational technologies is evolving constantly. Courses taught are subject to constant change from organisational and subject-specific reasons. Evolution and change affect educators and developers of computer-based teaching and learning environments alike – both often being unprepared to respond effectively. A large number of educational systems are designed and developed without change and evolution in mind. We will present our approach to the design and maintenance of these systems in rapidly evolving environments and illustrate the consequences of evolution and change for these systems and for the educators and developers responsible for their implementation and deployment. We discuss various factors of change, illustrated by a Web-based virtual course, with the objective of raising an awareness of this issue of evolution and change in computer-supported teaching and learning environments. This discussion leads towards the establishment of a development and management framework for teaching and learning systems

Systematizing Scaffolding for Problem-Based Learning: A View from Case-Based Reasoning

Current theories and models of education often argue that instruction is best administered when knowledge is situated within a context. Problem-based learning (PBL) provides an approach to education that has particularly powerful affordances for learning disciplinary content and practices by solving authentic problems within a discipline. However, not all implementations of PBL have been equally successful at fostering such learning, and some argue that this form of instruction is beyond the capabilities of novices. We revisit the theoretical foundations of PBL and call on the theoretical foundations of case-based reasoning (CBR) to help us identify the reasons many PBL implementations do not succeed as well as expected. Based on that analysis, we suggest priorities for facilitator scaffolding during PBL, ways well-curated case libraries can expose novices to new experiences and help them direct attention to important variables that require additional investigation, and ways case-authoring tools can help foster the kinds of reflection needed for learning from problem-solving experiences. Finally, we discuss challenges that, if addressed, will support even more effective PBL implementations

Scientific Literacy in the digital age: tools, environments and resources for co-inquiry

This paper describes some European and International projects to promote Scientific Literacy in the digital age as well as technologies, environments and resources for co-inquiry. The aim of this research is also to describe computer applications, software tools and environments that were designed to support processes of collaborative inquiry learning to promote Scientific Literacy. These tools are analyzed by describing their interfaces and functionalities. The outcomes of this descriptive research points out some effects on student learning and competences developed known from the literature. This paper argues the importance of promoting scientific citizenship not only through schools and Universities (formal learning), but also non-credit online courses and community-based learning programmes (non-formal context), as well as daily life activities, educational open digital materials through social networks (informal scenario)

Degree of Scaffolding: Learning Objective Metadata: A Prototype Leaning System Design for Integrating GIS into a Civil Engineering Curriculum

Digital media and networking offer great potential as tools for enhancing classroom learning environments, both local and distant. One concept and related technological tool that can facilitate the effective application and distribution of digital educational resources is learning objects in combination with the SCORM (sharable content objects reference model) compliance framework. Progressive scaffolding is a learning design approach for educational systems that provides flexible guidance to students. We are in the process of utilizing this approach within a SCORM framework in the form of a multi-level instructional design. The associated metadata required by SCORM will describe the degree of scaffolding. This paper will discuss progressive scaffolding as it relates to SCORM compliant learning objects, within the context of the design of an application for integrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into the civil engineering curriculum at the University of Missouri - Rolla

Towards a sustainable open educational resources development model : tapping into the cognitive surplus of student-generated content

Open Educational Resources (OER) have created opportunities for learners around the world. Previous research investigated different OER development models for higher educational institutions and other educational communities. However, maintaining sustainability remains the main challenge of OER projects, as there is a high demand on raising awareness of the value of OER in higher education, as well as the need for expanding a participation base in the OER development process and improving the quality of OER. As a response to these challenges, the research documented in this thesis presents a new OER development model that establishes communities of practices around OER in higher educational institutions, where the knowledge production that takes place inside classrooms provides sustainable resources for the OER development process. OER literature also shows initiatives on engaging students in the OER development process, however, there is a lack of rigor research that shows the principles of engaging students in this process. Hence, this study is focused on identifying the design principles of the sustainable OER development model that engages students in generating OER. The model was designed to establish communities of practice of students and teachers to work collaboratively in generating learning resources. In the context of computing and information technology studies for undergraduate learning environments, students generate a surplus of projects in different study units with some projects repurposed, however, a surplus of projects that are generated on every academic semester are rarely tapped into. This abundance of knowledge production is described as ‘cognitive surplus’ and tapping into it can maximise the value of these projects. Therefore, the proposed OER development model taps into the cognitive surplus of student-generated content, where instead of generating summaries and portfolios, students create learning resources based on the unit topics using content authoring software tools. In this model, teachers work as facilitators and co-creators, providing evaluation of learning resources in order to be published as OER. To engage students in generating learning resources for OER, the learning assessment approach was taken from assessing student projects on reproducing information to a new level where students engaged in structuring, designing, collecting and evaluating content for generating learning resources which was then shared online as OER. These activities maximised students’ responsibilities, because sharing work online motivated them to improve the quality of the learning content. To be able to design a new OER development model, there was a need to understand the characteristics of the learning environment, including students, teachers and the learning material. In addition, developing a pedagogically informed approach to adopt the OER development model in learning environments, which can help with improving students’ learning performance and advance the teaching practices through open educational practices (OEP), was also required.Therefore, to fulfil these requirements, this thesis elaborates on the literature review of the related areas of the OER development model and provides analysis of the emerging concepts and related theories. The thesis also presents and reflects on the stages of model development, refinements and evaluation over the lifetime of the study, and provides practical evidence on the potential sustainability of the model in real-life learning environments