Extreme Apprenticeship Method in Teaching University-Level Mathematics

At the Department of Mathematics and Statistics in the University of Helsinki the courses Linear Algebra and Matrices I and II have traditionally been taught through lectures and take-home tasks. Although the pass rates have been satisfactory, the students’ level of understanding of the topics has not, which has been apparent in subsequent courses. The approach chosen to tackle this problem was to use the Extreme Apprenticeship method developed for teaching computer programming and implement it into teaching university-level mathematics. The courses under study in fall 2011 were among the largest courses at the department with hundreds of participants (N=361 and N=248). The results show that the students were satisfied with the new teaching method, and the passing rate did not drop even though the workload was significantly increased and the requirement level was raised.Peer reviewe

Natural‐language processing applied to an ITS interface

The aim of this paper is to show that with a subset of a natural language, simple systems running on PCs can be developed that can nevertheless be an effective tool for interfacing purposes in the building of an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS). After presenting the special characteristics of the Smalltalk/V language, which provides an appropriate environment for the development of an interface, the overall architecture of the interface module is discussed. We then show how sentences are parsed by the interface, and how interaction takes place with the user. The knowledge‐acquisition phase is subsequently described. Finally, some excerpts from a tutoring session concerned with elementary geometry are discussed, and some of the problems and limitations of the approach are illustrated

Build it so they will come? Feasibility and efficacy of a gamified personalized normative feedback alcohol intervention for sexual minority women.

Sexual minority women (SMW) disproportionately engage in heavy drinking and shoulder the burden of alcohol dependence. Much research has emphasized the need for culturally tailored alcohol interventions for this population, highlighting sexual minority stigma-related experiences, maladaptive coping, and misperceived peer drinking and coping norms as potential intervention targets. Focusing on the latter, this research examines the potential utility of personalized normative feedback (PNF) in reducing consumption among moderate and heavy drinking SMW. PNF is a popular, evidence-based intervention strategy associated with reliable (albeit modest) reductions in alcohol use in other heavy drinking populations. To remedy limitations associated with traditional PNF intervention formats and tailor this strategy to reflect the interests, social identities, and stigma experiences of SMW, a novel gamified intervention format was developed wherein PNF on drinking and coping behaviors was organically delivered to SMW within LezParlay, a larger competition designed to challenge negative stereotypes about lesbian, bisexual, queer (LBQ) women and increase the visibility of community members. The current study evaluates the efficacy and feasibility of this approach. In total, 2,677 LBQ women between the ages of 21 and 65 years signed up to take part in the LezParlay competition, with players logging over 44,0000 web app page views. Following several rounds of play, a sub-sample of 499 moderate-to-heavy drinking SMW were randomized to receive 1 of 3 sequences of PNF (i.e., alcohol+coping, alcohol+control, or control topics only) over two subsequent rounds. Alcohol use was assessed prior to randomization and two months post-intervention, along with potential demographic and sexual minority stigma-related moderators. Following the competition, these participants completed feedback surveys assessing acceptability, perceived benefits, and ideas for future versions of LezParlay. At follow-up, participants who received alcohol+coping and alcohol+control PNF significantly reduced their alcohol consumption relative to those who received control PNF only (d =.49 -.50). No differences were observed between treatment conditions overall; however, moderator analyses revealed alcohol+coping PNF to be more effective than alcohol only PNF among SMW who entered the study as heavier drinkers. Interpersonal stigma exposure also moderated intervention efficacy with enhanced effects observed among SMW in both treatment conditions reporting greater (relative to lesser) violence and harassment due to sexual minority status. Study participants found the competition to be highly acceptable and 93% reported psychological benefits, which most frequently included stigma reduction, social comparison, community connection, entertainment, self-confrontation, and mood enhancement. Findings support the feasibility and efficacy of this palatable approach to alcohol intervention for SMW, suggest that culturally tailored game mechanics may bolster PNF intervention engagement and potentially carry psychological benefits beyond core intervention content, and illuminate several priority directions for future research. Foremost, as findings suggest that PNF may particularly risk-reducing in the context of severe interpersonal stigma experiences like violence and harassment due to sexual minority status, additional research with SMW and members of other stigmatized groups is needed to more extensively examine potential interactions between norm correcting PNF and sexual minority stigma experiences in the context of heavy drinking and other health-risk behaviors. More broadly, this research advances several new directions for PNF intervention research, demonstrates the efficiency of hybrid feasibility/efficacy trial designs for evaluating digital health interventions, and illuminates the potential utility of incognito digital health intervention formats for nonclinical populations

A Perspective Of Automated Programming Error Feedback Approaches In Problem Solving Exercises

Programming tools are meant for student to practice programming. Automated programming error feedback will be provided for students to self-construct the knowledge through their own experience. This paper has clustered current approaches in providing automated error programming feedback to the students during problem solving exercises. These include additional syntax error messages, solution template mismatches, test data comparison, assisted agent report and collaborative comment feedback. The study is conducted based on published papers for last two decades. The trends are analyzed to get the overview of latest research contributions towards eliminating programming difficulties among students. The result shows that future direction of automated programming error feedback approaches may combine agent and collaborative feedback approaches towards more interactive, dynamic, end-user oriented and specific goal oriented. Such future direction may help other researchers fill in the gap on new ways of assisting learners to better understand feedback messages provided by automated assessment tool

Examining Student Teachers’ Beliefs about Oral Corrective Feedback: Insights from a Teacher Education Program in Turkey

Teachers’ beliefs about language learning and teaching are largely shaped during pre-service teacher education. Although many empirical studies have analyzed various dimensions of how student teachers’ beliefs and practices are formed, the literature is scarce with the research on student teacher’s beliefs about oral corrective feedback. For the field of English language teaching, student teachers’ beliefs about correcting erroneous utterances count for their future instructional choices. Thus, as an uncharted territory of inquiry, this issue merits a scholarly attention. To this end, the present study investigated the stated beliefs and behaviors of 98 nonnative student teachers via various qualitative tools; an interview and a simulation offering 20 classroom situations. The results showed that although most student teachers held a constructivist belief in defining teaching, their oral corrective feedback strategies varied in terms of correcting errors that relate to language proficiency, language components and task type

Students\u27 Perceptions of the Usefulness of Glossing Sheets in Revision Process

This research explores student perceptions of the effectiveness of grammar glossing sheets. Research methods included the creation of two surveys that were administered to ninth grade students at an American high school in Kuwait. The first survey sought background information on students\u27 perceptions of their abilities when using grammar and the second asked if the students found the grammar glossing process beneficial to their writing and understanding of grammar. Research findings suggest that students do believe there are benefits to the grammar glossing process. Student response shows that grammar glossing sheets are a practical tool to help students increase their knowledge of grammar and improve their writing

COMPARING PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING AND LECTURE AS METHODS TO TEACH WHOLE-SYSTEMS DESIGN TO ENGINEERING STUDENTS

The objective of this research is to compare problem-based learning and lecture as methods to teach whole-systems design to engineering students. A case study, Appendix A, exemplifying successful whole-systems design was developed and written by the author in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Institute. Concepts to be tested were then determined, and a questionnaire was developed to test students\u27 preconceptions. A control group of students was taught using traditional lecture methods, and a sample group of students was taught using problem-based learning methods. After several weeks, the students were given the same questionnaire as prior to the instruction, and the data was analyzed to determine if the teaching methods were effective in correcting misconceptions. A statistically significant change in the students\u27 preconceptions was observed in both groups on the topic of cost related to the design process. There was no statistically significant change in the students\u27 preconceptions concerning the design process, technical ability within five years, and the possibility of drastic efficiency gains with current technologies. However, the results were inconclusive in determining that problem-based learning is more effective than lecture as a method for teaching the concept of whole-systems design, or vice versa

UMMS Student Perspectives on Course Structure

Provides course directors at the University of Massachusetts Medical School with clear, vibrant, concrete student perspectives on effective practices for conducting courses, as developed in a student-run focus group. Includes an executive summary