Enabling students to proactively evaluate, test and adapt the effectiveness of their learning through interactive online formative assessment

Whether we like it or not, when it comes to learning, most students are motivated by the desire to demonstrate success in the summative assessment component of the course, rather than implicitly develop their depth of knowledge, understanding and application of subject matter at hand. Viewing learning from this perspective, it is therefore vitally important to select and embed the ‘right’ assessment strategy as this will affect how and what students decide to learn, as well as how much time and effort they prioritise to different tasks and/or learning resources. In an attempt to break this cycle of assessment-driven learning, and in line with Vygotsky’s work on learning progression in which intervention allows an individual to develop further than if left on their own, a formative learning framework was developed to encourage students to take a more reflective and constructivist approach to their learning. The framework (originally funded by the Centre for Open Learning in Maths, Science, Computing and Technology CETL at The Open University), was designed to enhance student awareness, understanding and recognition of competency levels from a learning outcomes approach, and to allow them to test their ongoing academic progress at predetermined and self-selected points throughout the year. By working through each of the formative assessments, it was envisaged that students would become more self-directed and confident in their learning skills and abilities, and that this in turn would aid retention. This paper will present data collected over two-years on how students have engaged with this learning tool, the impact it has had on their perceived learning abilities and progression, the variances between expected and actual use, and the lessons learned on how formative assessment can be used as a successful method of helping students to learn how they learn, and how to do this more effectivel

Recognizing the influence of social determinants on HIV risk behaviors and the need for structural interventions to prevent HIV in women

The design and implementation of structural interventions may provide for simultaneous and longitudinal responses to prevention needs in multiple contexts as defined by social determinants, thus varied opportunities exist to respond to the HIV prevention needs of women. According to the CDC, in 2010, the rate of new HIV infections among black women was 20 times that of white women, and the rate among Hispanic/Latino women was 4 times the rate of white women. Additionally, 86% of HIV infections in women were attributed to heterosexual contact and 14% to injection drug use (CDC, 2012). These numbers are reflected outside the US with 49% of those infected by HIV being women with a predominant source of infection being related to heterosexual transmission (WHO, 2008). In sub-Saharan Africa, of those living with HIV, 60% are women. Attention to the influential context of social determinants of health provides unique opportunities for innovative prevention practice in HIV/AIDS prevention for women. In this paper, social determinants of health as an influential, behavioral concept is defined both in terms of women’s health and their sexual behavior decision making, along with examples of potential structural interventions that not only address the social determinants of their HIV risks but also reflect the contextual complexity of their life experiences. An earlier study (Abdul-Qader and Collins, 2011) solicited statements from a sample of experts in HIV prevention and areas of public health to identify potential structural interventions that would be feasible and impactful regarding HIV prevention - the DHAP Structural Interventions Mapping project. Data was elicited from these stakeholders most likely to be designing and guiding interventions to determine their perspectives on feasible and impactful structural intervention to address sexual behavior in women. The current paper is based on secondary analysis of 20 of these potential structural interventions generally and specifically applicable to women and their HIV prevention needs. Qualitative analysis resulted in three overall themes of economic interventions, response to violence against women and integrated health service delivery strategies that address key health-belief and socio-cultural issues. The themes are reflected and substantiated in current research literature, and provide a foundation for the next steps regarding research, policy planning and program implementation for developing evidence-based structural interventions focused on preventing HIV in women

Using an online formative assessment framework to enhance student engagement: a learning outcomes approach

Students learn best when they are fully engaged in the learning process, are motivated to test their current level of learning against known standards, and are offered targeted and timely support to help address subsequent personal learning needs. The most usual way to do this is through the use of assessment, but this in itself can act as an overbearing influence on what and how students learn, rather than providing an holistic support mechanism that encourages continuous reflective learning. Summative assessment provides a quantitative measure of learning at specific points in time, but may not encourage students to focus on specific strengths and weaknesses in need of attention. Formative assessment can provide specific reflective and feed-forward support, but given the time-poor nature of many students, is this perceived as a useful part of the learning process? This paper presents an overview of work in progress (funded by Centre for Open Learning in Maths, Science, Computing and Technology CETL at The Open University), on the development and implementation of an online interactive formative assessment framework, that has designed from a constructivist perspective, to promote student engagement and understanding of academic progression, using an learning outcomes approach. The framework specifically aims to enhance student awareness, understanding and recognition of competency levels, and to allow testing of ongoing academic progress at predetermined and self-selected points throughout the year. Each assessment makes explicit links to other components of the course including the summative assessment strategy, as a means of providing an integrated approach to learning. By working through the formative assessments it is hoped that students will become more self-directed and confident in their learning skills and abilities, which in turn should improve retention. The framework uses OpenMark (a web-based system developed within the Open University) in which students have up to three attempts to correctly answer each question, and are offered instantaneous and targeted feedback after each incorrect attempt. The system collects information on the answers submitted, and the time taken to complete each question, offering valuable insight into how (and which) students are engaging with the assessment and course materials. This data permits new targeted feedback to be added in response to common errors, as well as additional support mechanisms to be incorporated in response to specific skills or content that is poorly demonstrated. All feedback in the framework is formative, commenting on how well each of the learning outcomes tested over a period of study has been demonstrated, as well as the overall level of academic competency attained at that point in time. At present, the framework encompasses seven interactive assessments (linked to fortnightly periods of study), consisting of ten variable-format questions (set at two levels of academic complexity). A planned eighth assessment will randomly select questions from preceding assessments, offering an instantaneous interactive revision tool. Preliminary results indicate that students not only rate the assessments as enjoyable, but are revisiting specific assessments as a means of enhancing previous outcomes and checking their progression on aspects they previously had difficulties with

What Can Talk Tell Us About Design? Considering Practice Through Symbolic Interactionism and Conversation Analysis

How can scholars conduct rigorous research into the social activities that help constitute design practice? This paper considers this question through exploring how the interactive aspects of design may be fruitfully examined from the perspective of social psychology, especially through the approaches and methods of Symbolic Interactionism (SI) and Conversation Analysis (CA). The social activities of design refer to those situations wherein design is conducted in relation to face-to-face talk, or conversation. Since many aspects of design involve discussion, this paper argues that an SI-informed CA can offer an effective approach that may help us to better understand how communication and negotiation are central aspects of design. The author first outlines why social psychology is a significant perspective from which to study design through associating this perspective with the work of previous design researchers (Rittel, Schön). This is followed by an exploration of SI’s concern with the relationship between social structure and personal agency. Through considering design-based talk through an SI- focused lens, we can see how participants in design negotiate both personal creativity and externally-imposed constraints. The concepts of creativity and constraint are discussed in more detail through analyses of excerpts of conversations from two design-education critiques. These analyses demonstrate how CA’s methods can help scholars delineate the micro processes that link design practice to both personal opinion and wider social conditions. In summary, social psychology, SI, and CA are presented as distinctive, rigorous, and inter-related approaches that can help scholars of design practice to better understand the precise manner in which design is enacted through contexts of social interaction. Keywords: Conversation Analysis; Design Practice; Interaction; Social Psychology; Symbolic Interactionism.</p

Non-perturbative Green's functions and the QCD effective charge

Using as ingredients the non-perturbative solutions of various QCD Green's function obtained from Schwinger-Dyson equations (SDEs), we study two versions of the QCD effective charge. The first one obtained from the pinch technique gluon self-energy, and the second from the ghost-gluon vertex. Despite the distinct nature of their buildings blocks, the two effectives charges are almost identical in the entire range of momenta, due to a fundamental identity relating the ghost dressing function with the two form factors of Green's function, which is of central importance in the PT-BFM formalism. In this talk, we outline how to derive this crucial identity from the SDEs of the aforementioned Green's functions. The renormalization procedure that preserves the validity of this identity is discussed in detail. Most importantly, we show that due to the infrared finiteness of the gluon propagator, the QCD charge obtained with either definition freezes in the deep infrared, in agreement with theoretical and phenomenological expectations.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Talk presented at the International Workshop on QCD Green's Functions, Confinement, and Phenomenology - QCD-TNT09, September 07 - 11 2009, ECT* Trento, Ital

New insights on non-perturbative Yang-Mills

In this talk we review some recent results on the infrared properties of the gluon and ghost propagators in pure Yang-Mills theories. These results are obtained from the corresponding Schwinger-Dyson equation formulated in a special truncation scheme, which preserves gauge invariance. The presence of massless poles in the three gluon vertex triggers the generation of a dynamical gluon mass (Schwinger mechanism in d=4), which gives rise to an infrared finite gluon propagator and ghost dressing function. As a byproduct of this analysis we calculate the Kugo-Ojima function, required for the definition of the non-perturbative QCD effective charge within the pinch technique framework. We show that the numerical solutions of these non-perturbative equations are in very good agreement with the results of SU(3) lattice simulations.Comment: Invited talk at XI Hadron Physics, Maresias, S\~ao Paulo, Brazil, 21-26 March, 201