Teaching with infographics: practising new digital competencies and visual literacies

This position paper examines the use of infographics as a teaching assignment in the online college classroom. It argues for the benefits of adopting this type of creative assignment for teaching and learning, and considers the pedagogic and technical challenges that may arise in doing so. Data and insights are drawn from two case studies, both from the communications field, one online class and a blended one, taught at two different institutions. The paper demonstrates how incorporating a research-based graphic design assignment into coursework challenges and encourages students' visual digital literacies. The paper includes practical insights and identifies best practices emerging from the authors' classroom experience with the infographic assignment, and from student feedback. The paper suggests that this kind of creative assignment requires students to practice exactly those digital competencies required to participate in an increasingly visual digital culture

The effectiveness of blended course instruction in second language learning final report, projet #PA2004-016 /

Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 27 sept. 2007)Également disponible en format papierBibliogr

The effectiveness of blended course instruction in second language learning final report, projet #PA2004-016 /

Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 27 sept. 2007)Également disponible en format papierBibliogr

Facilitating skills transfer: a collaborative writing centre intervention for undergraduate Law students

Despite the ability to write being central to success in the legal profession, there is general consensus concerning the poor writing skills of law graduates. In an attempt to address these concerns, this paper reports on the joint effort of subject experts and writing centre practitioners to address law students’ legal writing skills early on in their law degree. The objective of the study was to evaluate the potential impact of a blended, subject-specific writing intervention designed to address first-year Law students’ academic essay writing skills in terms of structure, organisation and argumentation. A multistage evaluation design was adopted to measure the potential impact of the intervention by collecting qualitative and quantitative data at various stages to triangulate the findings of the study. The results showed a statistically significant improvement in the submissions of students who engaged fully in the various stages of the writing intervention. This study contributes to research that shows that by embedding writing development initiatives in disciplines which form part of disciplinary course assessment, higher education institutions might begin to make headway in meeting their obligation to ensure that students possess the key graduate attributes that are required to make a contribution to the workplace

Facilitating skills transfer: a collaborative writing centre intervention for undergraduate Law students

Despite the ability to write being central to success in the legal profession, there is general consensus concerning the poor writing skills of law graduates. In an attempt to address these concerns, this paper reports on the joint effort of subject experts and writing centre practitioners to address law students’ legal writing skills early on in their law degree. The objective of the study was to evaluate the potential impact of a blended, subject-specific writing intervention designed to address first-year Law students’ academic essay writing skills in terms of structure, organisation and argumentation. A multistage evaluation design was adopted to measure the potential impact of the intervention by collecting qualitative and quantitative data at various stages to triangulate the findings of the study.The results showed a statistically significant improvement in the submissions of students who engaged fully in the various stages of the writing intervention. This study contributes to research that shows that by embedding writing development initiatives in disciplines which form part of disciplinary course assessment, higher education institutions might begin to make headway in meeting their obligation to ensure that students possess the key graduate attributes that are required to make a contribution to the workplace

Teaching Writing in Blended Environment

The article aims to describe the implementation blended learning environment in teaching writing skills. The research is based on the blended learning framework that integrates face-to-face methods and online learning methods. The face-to-face method is given to see students' activeness in delivering ideas and brainstorming before writing essays. The online learning method is used to see students' ability to elaborate ideas from drafting to become a complete essay. Thus, students can be effective in learning in class to discuss their draft an essay and not spend much time writing. The implementation of blended learning was distributed to three session: brainstorming, drafting, and final writing. The evaluation was done for each cycle. After the evaluation, students get feedback for their performance in the previous session. The result post-test shows that students in the experimental class have indicated a significant improvement in essay writing performance with significance 0,06>0,05 with an average score of 76,35. The result of the research is very important as a framework to develop learning models for teaching writing at universities

Online peer assessment: helping to facilitate learning through participation

The focus of this paper is on the combination of enquiry-based learning, information literacy and e-learning and how they are embedded in an online peer assessment exercise. What it shall present is a structure and strategy that aids student learning in the short and long-term. Ninety eight students completed a questionnaire before and after a three-week online peer assessment exercise during a first year undergraduate research and study skills module. The results demonstrate that a significant number of students valued the design of the exercise and the benefits it can have on their future learning and development. The paper concludes by suggesting that new and innovative ways of assessment are needed to keep engaging students and develop their learning in different ways

The Effectiveness of a Blended Strategy based on Concept Mapping and Text Structure in Enhancing EFL Learners’ Writing Performance

The current study investigated the effect of a blended strategy based on concept mapping and text structure on EFL learners’ writing performance. An intact group (N = 42) of seventh level English majors at Thadiq Sciences and Humanities College, Shaqra University, KSA participated in the study in the first semester of the academic year 2016-2017. They were assigned to an experimental group and a control group, each consisting of 21 students. A writing pretest was administered to the two groups and scored by two raters using the Weir’s TEEP attribute writing scale (1990). An independent samples t-test performed on the pretest mean scores of the two groups showed that they were homogenous prior to the experiment. Concept mapping and text formatting (the proposed blended strategy) were integrated in the Advanced Writing course (Eng 413) for experimental group students. The control group received conventional instruction that did not include the proposed strategy. Independent and paired samples t-tests revealed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in all the sub-scales of Weir’s TEEP attribute writing scale, hence supporting the positive effect of concept mapping and text formatting on EFL learners’ writing performance. Pedagogical implications are offered

Student Attitude to Audio Versus Written Feedback

First year Biology at the University of Glasgow consists of two courses, 1A and 1B, with an annual intake of 750-800 students. Both courses consist of lectures, practical lab sessions, tutorials and discussion groups. With such large numbers of students, teaching methods and delivery continually change and develop to ensure best delivery of the course content. As such, assessment and feedback systems also need to remain current and accessible to all. Timely, instructive and developmental feedback on student work is arguably the most powerful single influence on a student’s ability to learn. As part of the transition from school into university, feedback is a recognised method of maximising student potential (Hattie and Timperley, 2007). Research shows that increasing student numbers and associated rise in marking workloads, means that feedback can be slow in returning to the student and lacking quality/detail (Glover and Brown, 2006). From the markers perspective there is some evidence that students fail to engage with, misinterpret or ignore written feedback. We have carried out a pilot study to apply, and attempt to build upon, principles of good feedback practice to the assessment of coursework. To do this, an essay assignment was submitted online by Biology 1A students, marked and written feedback provided to all. A randomly selected group of students (10% of the cohort) also received audio feedback (electronic audio files were imbedded into the student work and returned to them by e-mail) on their submitted work. All students then completed an anonymous ‘Feedback’ questionnaire detailing their experiences with the feedback they received, with additional questions that were answered solely by the ‘audio group’ asking more specific questions about the effectiveness of the audio feedback. To carry out this study, new technologies were utilised and these will be demonstrated at the meeting along with the study conclusions. Hattie, J. and Timperley, H. (2007) The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77, 81–112 Glover, C. and Brown, E. (2006). Written Feedback for Students: too much, too detailed or too incomprehensible to be effective? Bioscience Education, 7