A Tale of Two Colleges

This story of two community colleges tells how they have dealt with the demands for data that state-mandated accountability requires. The story is based on research conducted at a large community college district in California. On the surface, the story might seem straightforward: accountability mandates led to the expansion of the Institutional Research Department, causing the schools to try to replace an outdated Student Information System in order to improve the district's overall access to data. However, the underlying story is more complicated. If it had a headline, it might be one of these: Why can't we get the data we need? A new system? What system? Is access to data really that important? This story looks at the community college district on multiple levels, weaving together anecdotes and experiences along with the underlying themes and tensions. It is an attempt to look at one component of the educational environment -- the one that links state policy-makers to the schools they oversee -- tracing the drive toward accountability through to its consequences in practice

Developing Meaningful Student-Teacher-Scientist Partnerships

This article describes the Earth System Scientist Network, in which students and teachers participate in research projects with scientists. In these projects the scientists can take advantage of having an extended research team, and the students and teachers can contribute to a research project while developing skills in inquiry and expanding content knowledge in Earth system science. Several issues must be addressed in order to facilitate these partnerships: identifying the scientific research questions, the data that the students will analyze, the requirements for participating schools, and the tools and protocols that the students and teachers will use during their research. Other logistical issues must also be addressed, such as assuring that instruments and tools are available to the teachers and students, providing the background information and training they will need, providing additional research questions that can help spark students' interest, and recognizing students and teachers for their contributions. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Design Guidelines for Sensor-based Mobile Learning Applications

We present five design guidelines that we have developed from issues identified during our usability evaluations in a sensor-based citizen inquiry project. These have been compiled from existing literature, and after receiving feedback on use of the mobile application from participants through forum comments and survey responses, statistical analysis of the sensor measurements, and the researchers' observation and reflection. These guidelines aim to assist Technology-enhanced Learning (TEL) researchers and teachers who develop, modify or use mobile apps for their projects and lessons

Supporting location-based inquiry learning across school, field and home contexts

Here we explore how technology can be applied to support inquiry learning spanning a range of contexts. The development process of a location-based inquiry learning toolset is presented for a secondary school GCSE Geography project. The design framework used and the process of participatory development is discussed with regard to the co-development of the activities and tools involved in an inquiry project. The lessons learned relate to the formation of a motivational context for the inquiry; the role of personal data collection in the field; the use of bridging representations across field and classroom activities; and the development of flexible, re-usable tools to support and bridge sequences of activities

Overview of project appraisal

This paper is the outcome of Australian, state and territory governments agreeing to consult to develop a more sophisticated and consistent framework to assess and evaluate major infrastructure projects. Introduction A project appraisal process helps a government make good choices in terms of its goals. It starts with a clear understanding of the role of the project in addressing the key problems preventing achievement of goals specified in a broader integrated transport and land use plan. Projects should ideally be targeted at addressing the most important problems identified in broader transport plans. Good project appraisal also requires the full exploration of reform and investment options to address the key problems to ensure that the project solution provides the best return for society’s scarce resources. Cost–benefit analysis (CBA) is the primary appraisal tool at the options assessment and project prioritisation stages of the appraisal process It is a rigorous, transparent, quantitative method that measures the degree to which individual projects generate net benefits (benefits minus costs) across Australia, and allows comparison and ranking of options and projects. CBA sits within a broader planning and appraisal framework designed to ensure that projects: Flow from good strategic-level planning and assessment Are closely aligned with high-level national, state and territory goals Are aimed at addressing priority problems that are preventing goals from being achieved, and Adopt the best solution, based on a sound assessment of a wide range of potential options for solving the identified problems. The best practice transport planning and appraisal framework in Australia is defined jointly by the National guidelines for transport system management in Australia (NGTSM 2006) and Infrastructure Australia’s Better infrastructure decision-making (IA 2013a). The NGTSM is currently being updated and revised to: Align with Infrastructure Australia’s framework and guidelines Incorporate the complementary Austroads Guide to Project Evaluation and Guide to Road Transport Planning Provide guidance on important recent developments in tools and techniques that have significant implications for future approaches to transport planning and project appraisal. These include: wider economic benefits (WEBs), productivity metrics, real options analysis, use of computable general equilibrium models, and CBA of active travel, climate change adaptation, maintenance and non-infrastructure initiatives. Non-infrastructure initiatives covers regulatory changes, intelligent transport system projects, and travel behaviour change programs, and be published as website. The NGTSM covers all land transport modes. It sets out a comprehensive framework for integrated transport and land use planning and analytical approaches to transport project appraisal (mostly CBA). The NGTSM update will build on the non-CBA aspects of transport appraisal contained in the current guidelines, particularly the upfront integrated transport and land use aspects of the framework. This paper outlines first the broader appraisal process in which CBA sits, and second CBA itself with the recent developments of wider economic benefits and productivity metrics. &nbsp

On bias in social reviews of university courses

University course ranking forums are a popular means of disseminating information about satisfaction with the quality of course content and instruction, especially with undergraduate students. A variety of policy decisions by university administrators, instructional designers and teaching staff affect how students perceive the efficacy of pedagogies employed in a given course, in class and online. While there is a large body of research on qualitative driving factors behind the use of academic rating sites, there is little investigation of the (potential) implicit student bias on said forums towards desirable course outcomes at the institution level. To that end, we examine the connection between course outcomes (student-reported GPA) and the overall ranking of the primary course instructor, as well as rating disparity by nature of course outcomes, for several hundred courses taught at Virginia Tech based on data collected from a popular academic rating forum. We also replicate our analysis for several public universities across the US. Our experiments indicate that there is a discernible albeit complex bias towards course outcomes in the professor ratings registered by students.Comment: WebSci'19 Companion Proceeding

Learning outcomes and their assessment: putting Open University pedagogical practice under the microscope

The Open University (OU) is the United Kingdom's only university devoted to distance learning. It is also the UK's largest university with over 200,000 students overall. Around 150,000 students are studying undergraduate level courses. Over the last decade major policy changes have impacted on UK higher education. Following the recommendations of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (Dearing Report, 1997) and the establishment of the Quality Assurance Agency, all UK universities have been required to define learning outcomes for their programmes and link learning outcomes to teaching and assessment. This major pedagogic shift led the OU to establish the Learning Outcomes and their Assessment (LOTA) project to re-examine the ways its courses are planned, designed, delivered and assessed, and to initiate necessary institution-wide changes. Explicitly linking outcomes, assessment and teaching, actively using assessment for learning, and supporting academic staff development are key elements in enhancing student learning

Building ArtsSmarts' Research Capacity: An Interim Report

In 2006, the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) created an initiative to build Canada's capacity to conduct research on learning, inviting not-for profit organizations to apply for Researcher in Residence grants. ArtsSmarts was one of the successful grant applicant organizations. Saad Chahine was hired by ArtsSmarts to take on the researcher-in-residence role. Several meetings resulted in the development of a work plan (Appendix A) and an outline of the various activities to be carried out by the researcher-in-residence. The work plan was approved by CCL, and the residency commenced in June 2007. What follows is an interim report on the residency, documenting what has been accomplished since June 2007, and providing direction for continuing to build ArtsSmarts' research capacity going forward