55,703 research outputs found
Using Case Studies as a Lens to Observe Teaching Evaluations
This paper presents the observations of three case studies, reflecting on the practices undertaken in various teaching evaluations. The case studies provide some insight into how many international institutions of higher education follow very traditional evaluation processes, even though they may differ significantly in cultural diversity and organization. Secondly, the paper emphasises the lack of alignment in evaluation practices when Universities try to seek more effective teaching and learning outcomes using these traditional instruments as the conduit. More effective teaching and learning could be accomplished through more aligned and reflective evaluation practices. </span
Teacher Evaluator Training & Certification: Lessons Learned From the Measures of Effective Teaching Project
Makes recommendations for the design and implementation of programs to train and certify principals in conducting teacher evaluations, including content, format, and length of training, scoring practice, and criteria for certification tests
Involving External Stakeholders in Project Courses
Problem: The involvement of external stakeholders in capstone projects and
project courses is desirable due to its potential positive effects on the
students. Capstone projects particularly profit from the inclusion of an
industrial partner to make the project relevant and help students acquire
professional skills. In addition, an increasing push towards education that is
aligned with industry and incorporates industrial partners can be observed.
However, the involvement of external stakeholders in teaching moments can
create friction and could, in the worst case, lead to frustration of all
involved parties. Contribution: We developed a model that allows analysing the
involvement of external stakeholders in university courses both in a
retrospective fashion, to gain insights from past course instances, and in a
constructive fashion, to plan the involvement of external stakeholders. Key
Concepts: The conceptual model and the accompanying guideline guide the
teachers in their analysis of stakeholder involvement. The model is comprised
of several activities (define, execute, and evaluate the collaboration). The
guideline provides questions that the teachers should answer for each of these
activities. In the constructive use, the model allows teachers to define an
action plan based on an analysis of potential stakeholders and the pedagogical
objectives. In the retrospective use, the model allows teachers to identify
issues that appeared during the project and their underlying causes. Drawing
from ideas of the reflective practitioner, the model contains an emphasis on
reflection and interpretation of the observations made by the teacher and other
groups involved in the courses. Key Lessons: Applying the model retrospectively
to a total of eight courses shows that it is possible to reveal hitherto
implicit risks and assumptions and to gain a better insight into the
interaction...Comment: Abstract shortened since arxiv.org limits length of abstracts. See
paper/pdf for full abstract. Paper is forthcoming, accepted August 2017.
Arxiv version 2 corrects misspelled author nam
Transforming a 4th year Modern Optics Course Using a Deliberate Practice Framework
We present a study of active learning pedagogies in an upper division physics
course. This work was guided by the principle of deliberate practice for the
development of expertise, and this principle was used in the design of the
materials and the orchestration of the classroom activities of the students. We
present our process for efficiently converting a traditional lecture course
based on instructor notes into activities for such a course with active
learning methods. Ninety percent of the same material was covered and scores on
common exam problems showed a 15 % improvement with an effect size greater than
1 after the transformation. We observe that the improvement and the associated
effect size is sustained after handing off the materials to a second
instructor. Because the improvement on exam questions was independent of
specific problem topics and because the material tested was so mathematically
advanced and broad (including linear algebra, Fourier Transforms, partial
differential equations, vector calculus), we expect the transformation process
could be applied to most upper division physics courses having a similar
mathematical base.Comment: 31 page
Using the balanced scorecard as a performance management tool in higher education
This paper presents a critical review of the relevant literature on managerialism and performance management in higher education. Afterwards, it features an inductive research that involved semi-structured interview sessions with academic members of staff. The interpretative study relied on the balanced scorecardâs (BSC) approach as it appraised the participants' opinions and perceptions on their higher education institutionâs (HEI) customer, internal, organizational capacity and financial perspectives. The findings have revealed the strengths and weaknesses of using the BSCâs financial and non-financial measures to assess the institutional performance and the productivity of individual employees. In sum, this research reported that ongoing performance conversations with academic employees will help HEI leaders to identify their institutionsâ value creating activities. This contribution implies that HEI leaders can utilize the BSCâs comprehensive framework as a plausible, performance management tool to regularly evaluate whether their institution is: (i) delivering inclusive, student-centered, quality education; (ii) publishing high impact research; (iii) engaging with internal and external stakeholders; and (iv) improving its financial results, among other positive outcomes.peer-reviewe
Representation in the classroom: The effect of own-race teachers on student achievement
Previous research suggests that there are academic benefits when students and teachers share the same race/ethnicity because such teachers can serve as role models, mentors, advocates, or cultural translators. In this paper, we obtain estimates of achievement changes as students are assigned to teachers of different races/ethnicities from grades 3 through 10 utilizing a large administrative dataset provided by the Florida Department of Education that follows the universe of test-taking students in Florida public schools from 2001â2002 through 2008â2009. We find small but significant positive effects when black and white students are assigned to race-congruent teachers in reading (.004â.005 standard deviations) and for black, white and Asian/Pacific Island students in math (.007â.041 standard deviations). We also examine the effects of race matching by students' prior performance level, finding that lower-performing black and white students appear to particularly benefit from being assigned to a race-congruent teacher.http://sites.bu.edu/marcuswinters/files/2017/09/Egalite-et-al-2015-FLTM_EER.pdfAccepted manuscrip
From white elephant to Nobel Prize: Dennis Gaborâs wavefront reconstruction
Dennis Gabor devised a new concept for optical imaging in 1947 that went by a variety of names over the following decade: holoscopy, wavefront reconstruction, interference microscopy, diffraction microscopy and Gaboroscopy. A well-connected and creative research engineer, Gabor worked actively to publicize and exploit his concept, but the scheme failed to capture the interest of many researchers. Gaborâs theory was repeatedly deemed unintuitive and baffling; the technique was appraised by his contemporaries to be of dubious practicality and, at best, constrained to a narrow branch of science. By the late 1950s, Gaborâs subject had been assessed by its handful of practitioners to be a white elephant. Nevertheless, the concept was later rehabilitated by the research of Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks at the University of Michigan, and Yury Denisyuk at the Vavilov Institute in Leningrad. What had been judged a failure was recast as a success: evaluations of Gaborâs work were transformed during the 1960s, when it was represented as the foundation on which to construct the new and distinctly different subject of holography, a re-evaluation that gained the Nobel Prize for Physics for Gabor alone in 1971. This paper focuses on the difficulties experienced in constructing a meaningful subject, a practical application and a viable technical community from Gaborâs ideas during the decade 1947-1957
âEconomics with training wheelsâ: Using blogs in teaching and assessing introductory economics
Blogs provide a dynamic interactive medium for online discussion, consistent with communal constructivist pedagogy. This paper explores the use of blogs in the teaching and assessment of a small (40-60 students) introductory economics paper. The role of blogs as a teaching, learning and assessment tool are discussed. Using qualitative and quantitative data collected across four semesters, studentsâ participation in the blog assessment is found to be associated with student ability, gender, and whether they are distance learners. Importantly, students with past economics experience do not appear to crowd out novice economics students. Student performance in tests and examinations does not appear to be associated with blog participation after controlling for student ability. However, students generally report overall positive experiences with the blog assessment
Integrated assessment : new assessment methods literature review
The assessment of students in higher education performs a number of functions, some of which may not always be compatible with each other. Traditionally, the role of the assessor has involved determining the level of competence displayed in undertaking the task, and ideally, offering feedback on future learning needs (Rowntree, 1987). Assessment also provides grading for studentsâ work, allowing comparison of performance across a class, and across the curriculum for individual students. The subsequent gaining of a degree or professional qualification depends on students successfully completing a set of specified assessment tasks across the prescribed curriculum. As such, there may be stakeholders beyond the higher education institution, such as employers, regulatory bodies or clients, who believe the assessment process as being akin to certification or professional gatekeeping (Younes,1998). In professional courses such as social work, passing certain assessment tasks may be associated with notions such as fitness to practice and eligibility for professional registration as a social worker with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) or similar bodies in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, and beyond the United Kingdom. In terms of gatekeeping, assessment tasks may not only restrict who gains certification on exiting an educational programme, but also who is admitted in the first place. For example, requirements by registration authorities that students admitted to social work programmes have achieved specified levels of literacy and numeracy will require appropriate assessment tasks to determine equivalence for those entrants who have not achieved formal qualifications in these areas. Entry point assessments may also be used to determine whether credit should be granted on the basis of prior learning or experience (Slater, 2000) or to identify areas in which additional training may be required (Shera, 2001) In addition to gatekeeping, assessment clearly has a vital role to play in the ongoing development of learning and teaching strategies. It can be crucial in determining what, why and how students learn (Brown, Bull and Pendlebury, 1997) and there is increasing recognition of the necessity to align learning and assessment tasks, so that learning and assessment become aligned rather than being somewhat independent of each other (Biggs, 2003). Furthermore, in an era when evaluation of teaching is often reduced to student satisfaction surveys, critical reflection on work submitted for assessment can serve as an alternative method of evaluating the success of teaching. The nature of assessment has changed considerably since the 1970s, and is ongoing. The key changes have included moves from written examinations to coursework assignments and more emphasis on student participation in assessment (self and peer assessments), processes rather than products, and on competencies rather than content (Brown et al., 1997). Even the more traditional forms of assessment such as essays and examinations have undergone considerable innovations. Yet, in practice these seemingly radical changes may be more a wish list than a statement of fact. In actuality, some new forms of assessment, such as self and peer assessment may simply have been added onto rather than replaced more traditional modes of assessment (Cree, 2000). Changes to assessment in social work tend to reflect changes in higher education more widely such as the emergence of competency based and modular approaches to learning, as well more proceduralised assessment processes necessary to cope with higher numbers of students (Cree, 2000). There is considerable divergence of opinion amongst the social work education community in the United Kingdom as to whether such changes actually benefit social work students and their learning (eg Clark, 1997; Ford and Hayes, 1996; OâHagan, 1997; Shardlow and Doel, 1996). There have also been concerns expressed as to whether some new forms of assessment are actually capable of achieving the learning they claim to facilitate Boud, 1999; Entwistle, 1990; Taylor, 1993). This report was commissioned by the Scottish Institute for Excellence in Social Work Education (SIESWE) as a resource on assessment for the development of the new social work degree in Scotland and provides an overview of the current literature on assessment methods being utilised in social work education both in the United Kingdom and beyond. This report begins by reviewing the various methods of assessment in social work education which were found in the literature. We then go on to explore the developing literature on the involvement of persons other than social work academics, such as students and service users, in the assessment process. Finally, we consider the importance of developing and assessment strategy which might incorporate these various different forms of assessmen
- âŠ