Fidelity and complexity : aspects of reality in interactive learning environments for physics learners

Computer-based interactive learning environments in physics can help students to differentiate between their intuitive views on natural phenomena and the formalisms of Newtonian physics. This thesis describes empirical investigations of a specific type of interactive learning environments, computer-based simulations. In many cases computer simulations deal with a simplified and idealised version of the natural phenomenon. Presenting the user with a simplification of reality is seen as one of the advantages of simulations, since too complex and too realistic simulations may sometimes be overwhelming for learners and may not permit the identification of the underlying model. Yet implications arise about the degree to which students either expect or perceive simulations to be real and how these expectations and perceptions affect their interaction with the simulation.Reality for the purposes of this research is considered to be a construct comprising the visual fidelity (fidelity) and the complexity of the underlying physical model (complexity) of the simulation. Evaluation of a number of simulations, two case studies and interviews with simulation designers and educators suggested these components. Altering the relation between fidelity and complexity levels affects students' learning and contributes to the students' perception of reality. This is demonstrated in a study of a number of simulations of the same physical phenomenon (Newtonian collisions) with degrees of fidelity and complexity which have been examined to test this hypothesis. Two empirical studies were then conducted to investigate the use of simulations which represented different fidelity and complexity levels.Analyses were carried out on videotapes and questionnaires of students interacting collaboratively with the simulations (40 hours of computer based activity). The empirical approaches to these studies, reports on work done, including the emerging data in multiple forms (questionnaires, video and audio tapes of the students interaction) and its analysis are presented in this thesis. The work reported looks at students' interaction with the simulations (pre to post test learning gain and issues concerning pre and post testing), their comments on the interface and the model underlying the simulation.The thesis supports the view that well designed computer-based simulations can promote learning and that design issues are essential to the creation of successful simulations. The findings claim that: a) enhanced fidelity of an instructional simulation has positive effects on the learner outcome,b) interfaces which use multiple representations offer valuable information which facilitates problem solving strategies andc) low complexity simulations are better suited to novice learners.These outcomes are presented as implications for simulation design and the use and development of a syntax in simulation design is also discussed (design criteria for how systems might be built). Finally the outcomes' applicability, the limitations of the studies, as well as the scope for further research that should lead to an understanding of the factors which promote successful use of simulations in the teaching of physics are presented

The role of open access and open educational resources:A distance learning perspective

Abstract: The paper explores the role of Open Access (in licensing, publishing and sharing research data) and Open Educational Resources within Distance Education, with a focus on the context of the University of London International Programmes. We report on a case study where data were gathered from librarians and programme directors relating to existing practice around Open Access; the major constraints in using Open Educational Resources and the main resource implications, when adopting Open Educational Resources, were also investigated. Our aim was to (a) raise awareness and understanding of what is possible to achieve in higher education by embracing the Open Access movement (b) identify next steps and actions that could be taken to improve institutional use of Open Access materials, including Open Educational Resources, (c) examine the implications of such actions for Open Distance Learning and generally the higher education sector. Our investigation highlighted some opportunities and the findings resulted into some clear recommendations that emerged both for practitioners and for students in this area. There seems to be a clear synergy between the different but related movements of Open access and OERs as both have to address issues of ease of access, quality and visibility in order to become accepted in higher education

The Significance of Kinship for Medical Education: Reflections on the Use of a Bespoke Social Network to Support Learners’ Professional Identities

Background: Social media can support and sustain communities much better than previous generations of learning technologies, where institutional barriers undermined any initiatives for embedding formal and informal learning. Some of the many types of social media have already had an impact on student learning, based on empirical evidence. One of these, social networking, has the potential to support communication in formal and informal spaces. Objective: In this paper we report on the evaluation of an institutional social network—King's Social Harmonisation Project (KINSHIP)—established to foster an improved sense of community, enhance communication, and serve as a space to model digital professionalism for students at King’s College London, United Kingdom. Methods: Our evaluation focused on a study that examined students’ needs and perceptions with regard to the provision of a cross-university platform. Data were collected from students, including those in the field of health and social care, in order to recommend a practical way forward to address current needs in this area. Results: The findings indicate that the majority of the respondents were positive about using a social networking platform to develop their professional voice and profiles. Results suggest that timely promotion of the platform, emphasis on interface and learning design, and a clear identity are required in order to gain acceptance as the institutional social networking site. Conclusions: Empirical findings in this study project an advantage of an institutional social network such a KINSHIP over other social networks (eg, Facebook) because access is limited to staff and students and the site is mainly being used for academic purposes

Addressing the Challenges of Assessment and Feedback in Higher Education: A collaborative effort across three UK Universities

Assessment has been identified as one of the major challenges faced by Higher Education Institutions (Whitelock, et al, 2007). As a response to the challenge, in a project funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) Open Mentor (OM) was developed as a learning support tool for tutors to help them reflect on the quality of feedback given to their students on assignments submitted electronically. Its development was based on the fundamental theory that there was convincing evidence of systematic connections between different types of tutor comments and the level of attainment in an assignment (Whitelock, et al 2004). OM analyses, filters, and classifies tutor comments through an algorithm based on Bale’s Interaction Process. As a result, tutor’s feedback comments are classified into four categories namely: Positive reactions, Teaching points, Questions and Negative reactions. The feedback provided is analysed against an ideal number of feedback comments that an assignment given a mark of a specific band should have. Reports are provided in OM to support tutors in the task of reflecting on their feedback structure, content and style. The JISC-funded Open Mentor technology transfer (OMtetra) project is continuing the work initiated by the Open University implementing OM at the University of Southampton and King’s College London. OMtetra aims at taking up OM and extending its use by developing the system further and ultimately offering better support to tutors and students in the assessment process. A group of tutors from the University of Southampton and Kings’ College are at present using OM in their teaching and assessment. In this paper, we explore potential improvements to OM in three aspects: user interface, technology implementation and analysis algorithm design. For the user experience aspect suggested additions to OM include the creation of a simple entry form where tutors may validate the results of the analysis of the feedback comments. In addition, enhancements to OM will facilitate uploading of students and modules information into the system. Presently, OM utilises a built-in database of users that needs to be maintained separately from institutional systems. Improvements for this system feature include a more flexible authentication module which would simplify the deployment of the system in new environments and thus promote uptake by a larger number of institutions. In order to reach this goal, the system will be migrated to an open source framework which provides out-of-the-box integration with various authentication systems. The last to improve is the analysis algorithm. Currently, OM classifies tutors’ comments into four categories by applying an underlying text matching algorithm. This method could be improved if tutors are allowed to confirm comments’ classification through the OM interface and a free-text classification algorithm. As the number of users grow, so will the algorithm and analysis process, making it more comprehensive and intelligent as the keywords used during analysis are dynamically expanded. OMtetra is an on-going project with a lot of potential. We believe that the outcomes from the development and trial implementations of OM will contribute highly to the area of assessment in higher education

Improving a tutor’s feedback assessment tool: transforming Open Mentor following two recent deployments

Evidence shows the vital role that the quality of feedback plays on students’ performance and on the overall increase of learning opportunities that good feedback creates for students. Based on this evidence, the Open University developed Open Mentor (OM), a system to support tutors enhance their feedback practice. Open Mentor Technology transfer (OMTetra), a JISC funded project, took OM and deployed it in two Higher Education institutions with the purpose of evaluating the process of transferability and continue the development of the tools available to tutors within the system. This paper describes the original OM and the enhancements identified after use and evaluations from tutors of the institutions involved

Developing Student Behaviours that Support Academic Integrity in Distance Learning

The shift to online assessment during the pandemic has generated debates on academic integrity, also highlighting good practice in supporting students and staff. Academic integrity is commitment to six fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage and academic misconduct refers to practices that are not in keeping with these values and this commitment. There seem to be two dominant threads in such debates in higher education: one involves promoting creative design of authentic assessment and guidelines to students about institutional expectations concerning academic offences such as plagiarism and collusion; the other provides technological and practical safeguards to protect academic integrity. In this paper, we report on the outcomes of a project that evaluated in 2020 the pivot to online assessment at the University of London, UK. Our focus is academic integrity in distance learning environments by exploring the key themes of student and staff perceptions, and related pedagogical issues. We propose a set of measures that can enhance students’ perception of academic integrity and institutional approaches to mitigate against academic offences

A rapid review of serious games: from healthcare education to dental education

Introduction: Games involving technology have the potential to enhance hand-eye coordination and decision-making skills. As a result, game characteristics have been applied to education and training, where they are known as serious games. There is an increase in the volume of literature on serious games in healthcare education; however, evidence on their impact is still ambiguous. Aims: The aims of this study were (1), to identify high-quality evidence (systematic reviews or meta-analyses) regarding impacts of serious games on healthcare education; and (2), to explore evidence regarding impacts of serious games in dental education. Methods: A rapid review of the literature was undertaken to synthesise available evidence and examine serious games in healthcare education (Stage 1) and dental education (Stage 2). Results: Nine systematic reviews were included in Stage 1, four of which were of high, three of moderate, and two of low quality. For Stage 2, two randomised control trials with moderate quality were included. The findings demonstrated that serious games are potentially effective learning tools in terms of knowledge and skills improvement, although outcomes of serious games over traditional learning approaches were not consistent. In addition, serious games appeared to be more engaging and satisfying for students, which could be considered as the most important positive impact. Conclusion: Serious games provide an option for healthcare and dental education but remain under-utilised and researched. At best, they offer a similar experience to other methods in relation to educational outcome; however, they can provide a supplementary strategy to engage students and improve learner satisfaction

Addressing the challenges of assessment and feedback in higher education: a collaborative effort across three UK universities

Assessment has been identified as one of the major challenges faced by Higher Education Institutions (Whitelock, et al, 2007). As a response to the challenge, in a project funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) Open Mentor (OM) was developed as a learning support tool for tutors to help them reflect on the quality of feedback given to their students on assignments submitted electronically. Its development was based on the fundamental theory that there was convincing evidence of systematic connections between different types of tutor comments and the level of attainment in an assignment (Whitelock, et al 2004). OM analyses, filters, and classifies tutor comments through an algorithm based on Bale’s Interaction Process. As a result, tutor’s feedback comments are classified into four categories namely: Positive reactions, Teaching points, Questions and Negative reactions. The feedback provided is analysed against an ideal number of feedback comments that an assignment given a mark of a specific band should have. Reports are provided in OM to support tutors in the task of reflecting on their feedback structure, content and style. The JISC-funded Open Mentor technology transfer (OMtetra) project is continuing the work initiated by the Open University implementing OM at the University of Southampton and King’s College London. OMtetra aims at taking up OM and extending its use by developing the system further and ultimately offering better support to tutors and students in the assessment process. A group of tutors from the University of Southampton and Kings’ College are at present using OM in their teaching and assessment. In this paper, we explore potential improvements to OM in three aspects: user interface, technology implementation and analysis algorithm design. For the user experience aspect suggested additions to OM include the creation of a simple entry form where tutors may validate the results of the analysis of the feedback comments. In addition, enhancements to OM will facilitate uploading of students and modules information into the system. Presently, OM utilises a built-in database of users that needs to be maintained separately from institutional systems. Improvements for this system feature include a more flexible authentication module which would simplify the deployment of the system in new environments and thus promote uptake by a larger number of institutions. In order to reach this goal, the system will be migrated to an open source framework which provides out-of-the-box integration with various authentication systems. The last to improve is the analysis algorithm. Currently, OM classifies tutors’ comments into four categories by applying an underlying text matching algorithm. This method could be improved if tutors are allowed to confirm comments’ classification through the OM interface and a free-text classification algorithm. As the number of users grow, so will the algorithm and analysis process, making it more comprehensive and intelligent as the keywords used during analysis are dynamically expanded. OMtetra is an on-going project with a lot of potential. We believe that the outcomes from the development and trial implementations of OM will contribute highly to the area of assessment in higher education

Designing assessments for blended learning scenarios

This article examines the design process required for developing assessments within blended learning scenarios. Furthermore, we examine how practitioners in higher education can be supported to develop their understanding of assessment and how to design assessments into their teaching

Framework for E‐Learning Assessment in Dental Education: A Global Model for the Future

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153544/1/jddj002203372013775tb05504x.pd