Cost‐effective support for university students learning via the Web?

Academics and other knowledge-owners are creating millions of Webpages that students can use. Universities are teaching more students off-campus because the costs of on-campus provision cannot be met. Offering courses via the Web seems an attractive alternative. Academics (and students) want the courses to be high quality. Yet quality is often lacking. À course outline gets approval, then aims, objectives and content change rapidly during the teaching. Students' and tutors' inputs are seldom monitored. Students join conferences only to discover that few classmates participate actively and the tutors' advice is hard to get. Web courses risk acquiring a poor reputation

Computer assisted formative assessment: supporting students to become more reflective learners

e-Assessment is being advocated in the UK as our way of introducing a more personalised learning agenda throughout the Higher Education sector. This paper discusses the findings from two projects where formative e-assessment has contributed to students taking more control of their own learning. One study set out to provide further insights into the role of electronic formative assessment and to point the way forward to new assessment practices, capitalising on a range of open source tools. The guiding vision was to pilot a series of formative assessments which have the potential to help shape learners as independent thinkers, making their own judgements and decisions about their learning in partnership with their peers and tutors. Other work consisted of evaluating a series of formative assessments given to Philosophy students. Lessons have been learned about the type of feedback that instructors and students think will be most useful and how using theis type of application promotes self reflection. The research reported here starts to illustrate how technology can be adapted to become more 'fit for pedagogical purpose?. The feedback offered by these systems encourages learner metacognition and aims to empower students to reflect and become independent thinkers. This approach sits well within a constructivist paradigm which has often been less well served in the past through formal summative assessment which is not an integral part of the knowledge construction process

Faculty Perceptions Regarding Best Practices in Clinical Dental Hygiene Assessment

This qualitative case study explored faculty perceptions regarding best practices and uses of assessment in a dental hygiene program at a small northwestern college. It was discovered that faculty in the program were assessing students in their clinical courses using widely varied methods, designs, and scoring tools. Faculty neither calibrated processes nor communicated about this problem. In addition, a review of the assessments in this local setting indicated a significant gap in the current guidelines for best practices in clinical assessment procedures. Knowles\u27 adult learning theory served as the foundation for this study. Research questions were designed to obtain clinical faculty\u27s perceptions of their knowledge of best practices in assessment, assessment design, methods including scoring tools, and how faculty could work collaboratively to implement clearly and consistently designed best-practice assessments in their clinical courses. Interviews and reviews of assessment documents were conducted with a purposeful sample of 8 faculty participants. Data were coded and analyzed for common themes. Results indicated that instructors did not collaborate and had little knowledge of assessment criteria based on best practices, administration, and scoring procedures. At the request of the dean, a position paper was created as a project. The paper outlined strategies for designing clinical skills assessments with criteria that is consistent, clear, and based on best practices. Also included were procedures for ongoing faculty professional development and collaboration, insuring that faculty are calibrated and that assessments are valid and reliable. The results of this study can promote positive social change as faculty in this program will be increasingly confident in assessment practices, and graduates will consistently provide greater quality patient and community care

Final report of work-with-IT: the JISC study into evolution of working practices

Technology is increasingly being used to underpin business processes across teaching and learning, research, knowledge exchange and business support activities in both HE and FE. The introduction of technology has a significant impact on the working practices of staff, often requiring them to work in a radically different way. Change in any situation can be unsettling and problematic and, where not effectively managed, can lead to poor service or functionality and disenfranchised staff. These issues can have a direct impact on institutional effectiveness, reputation and the resulting student experience. The Work-with-IT project, based at the University of Strathclyde, sought to examine changes to working practices across HE and FE, the impact on staff roles and relationships and the new skills sets that are required to meet these changes

Using tablets for e-assessment of project-based learning

Technology is confirmed to be an effective tool for assessment and feedback, in particular for computer-assisted assessment (Irons, 2008; Challis, 2005), producing feedback (Heinrich et al., 2009) and publishing feedback (Bloxham and Boyd, 2007; Denton, 2003; Denton et al., 2008). The arrival of affordable mobile devices has introduced a new means for enhancing the above practices (Fabian and MacLean, 2014; Plimmer and Mason, 2006; Salem, 2013). Student preferences to smart phones and tablet devices steer the technological innovation towards ubiquitous mobile connectivity. Inspired by the benefits of such life and study style, educators have started exploring the use of these technologies. Tablet computers prove to become their preferred choice as they resolve some of the limitations associated with the design, readability and comprehensiveness of the feedback for mobile devices with smaller screens (Strain-Seymour, 2013, Rootman-le Grange and Lutz, 2013). This paper reports how tablets and the Form Connext mobile app have been used for engaging a sample of 300 Business Studies students in in-class online assessment and designing and providing timely comprehensive feedback. The study has followed an action research strategy that is grounded on a continuous and dynamic process of reflection (Carr and Kemmis, 2003) on the effectiveness of assessment of student projects documented electronically through wikis and electronic portfolios. It refines the use of tablets for summative and formative assessment of the project-based learning tasks through three review cycles, each of which incorporated a Reflection and Improvements stage. The experience resulted in enhancement of assessment strategies and contribution to the development of contemporary models of learning through effective assessment and feedback (Carr and Kemmis, 2003). The results of the work confirm that tablet computers are an effective tool in assessing e-materials in larger classes for two primary reasons. Firstly, design of e-forms facilitates rigorous process of reflection and understanding assessment criteria that in turn benefit students when preparing for the assessment. Hence, legible and detailed feedback is produced anytime anywhere with synchronous updates within the marking team. Secondly, students benefit from immediate comprehensive feedback allowing them to reflect on and improve their understanding of subject matters, as well as to engage in discussing specific details of the work that are captured through the form. An unexpected outcome was the enhanced reputation and respect to the tutors amongst students, the triggering of student curiosity and enthusiasm in applying similar approach to their own work. The diffusion for the practice amongst other units and identifying other purposes for which the mobile app could be used are also seen as achievements exceeding the expectations of the project team

THE USE OF GOOGLE CLASSROOM FOR DISTANCE LEARNING IN THE CURRENT COVID-19 SITUATION AT THE VOCATIONAL SCHOOL CONTEXTS IN INDONESIA

The aims of this study are to find out how to implement optimization using Google classroom in the distance learning process at vocational school, students’ response towards it, and whether it can achieve the learning objectives at vocational school. This qualitative study used exploratory sequential mixed methods with observation and questionnaires, analyze the results and then strengthen it with quantitative research (test) by using two groups consisting of the experimental group and the control group. This research was carried out in one of the existing Vocational Schools in West Java and used the 184 twelfth grade students of the academic year 2020/2021 using purposive sampling technique. The sample was the students from Computer and Network Engineering program, each subject taken from the population is chosen intentionally based on the class group selection. For data collection techniques, this study used observation, questionnaire with closed ended question, and test. Based on the data, the results of this research that have been carried out, that: (1) application of optimization using Google classroom in the Distance Learning process shows that the Distance Learning process carried out which run well and in accordance with classroom learning procedures starting from making classes, changing the old class themes, making general information about subjects, making subject matter, making and starting assignments, students working on assignments, until the teacher evaluates the results of the assignment. (2) Student responses to the use of Google classroom for Distance Learning were very good. (3) Distance Learning using Google classroom can achieve the learning objectives.

Strategies for sustainable socio-economic development and mechanisms their implementation in the global dimension

The authors of the book have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to effectively use modern approaches to developing and implementation strategies of sustainable socio-economic development in order to increase efficiency and competitiveness of economic entities. Basic research focuses on economic diagnostics of socio-economic potential and financial results of economic entities, transition period in the economy of individual countries and ensuring their competitiveness, assessment of educational processes and knowledge management. The research results have been implemented in the different models and strategies of supply and logistics management, development of non-profit organizations, competitiveness of tourism and transport, financing strategies for small and medium-sized enterprises, cross-border cooperation. The results of the study can be used in decision-making at the level the economic entities in different areas of activity and organizational-legal forms of ownership, ministries and departments that promote of development the economic entities on the basis of models and strategies for sustainable socio-economic development. The results can also be used by students and young scientists in modern concepts and mechanisms for management of sustainable socio-economic development of economic entities in the condition of global economic transformations and challenges

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EDMODO TOWARDS INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS’ ENGLISH PROFICIENCY

As a result of the utilization of technological advances to achieve competency integration, the 4.0 technology era is gaining traction in the field of education. This study aims to explore the efficacy of using the Edmodo application as an online-based learning medium in order to improve the way in which EFL students learn English using technology. By  a mixed-methods research design, this study recruited twenty-two tenth graders in the Mathematics and Natural Science stream from an integrated Islamic senior high school in Aceh province, Indonesia. The data indicate that the majority of students possess the necessary devices to assist them in completing their tasks, and a significant proportion of them use these devices to play games and conduct research. By categorizing aspects and components, Edmodo improves students' vocabulary when used to assess their learning progress through assignments and quizzes. In addition, the students are more willing to request assistance from teachers and peers when using the application. Despite the fact that Edmodo requires a smartphone and a reliable internet connection to utilize it, the participants do not report having any significant issues with the two requirements, however, half of them report having trouble attaching assignments from different types of files such as Doc, Pdf, Video, and Audio. Overall, Edmodo is an outstanding and highly effective online resource for reading, writing, listening, and speaking English classes (e-learning)