68 research outputs found
Engaging students to learn forecasting methods
Presently, higher education institutions are faced with the challenge of developing student’s abilities
and skills needed in their future workplace.
In what concerns technological skills, the use of spreadsheets for calculations, analysis of data and
forecasting is a common and important practice in companies. Particularly, the MS Excel software is
widely used by professionals from all fields. In this sense, Economic, Business and Marketing
graduates need competencies in forecasting methods, extremely useful for decision-making
processes. It thus becomes imperative to implement pedagogical practices to encourage students to
use these technological tools. The later will promote the development of competencies in forecasting
methods to solve future real problems.
In this paper, we attempt to address these issues by analysing the MS Excel software capabilities as a
teaching tool in a forecasting methods course. It was proposed to the students to carry out a learning
project involving statistical concepts, namely linear regression, performed in MS Excel. We examine
the performance and engagement of two samples of students with different backgrounds and from
distinct realities. One group is composed of ERASMUS’ students from several nationalities and fields
of study and other group consists of Portuguese students of the Marketing Bachelor degree, both
enrolled in an optional course of the bachelor degree in Marketing taught at Porto Accounting and
Business School from Polytechnic of Porto.
The effectiveness of this approach is shown through the analysis of results of students’ projects. We
verify that students in both groups achieved the task proposed goals and applied appropriately the
required concepts in an engaged way.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
New challenges in mathematics for the european higher education
In this paper we will talk about a math project submitted to the Lifelong Learning Programme.
European higher education needs a reform in order to play its full role in the Europe of Knowledge.
Modernisation of higher education is necessary in the areas of curricula (Bologna process), funding
and governance so that higher education institutions can face the challenges posed by globalisation
and contribute more effectively to the training and retraining of the European workforce. On the other
hand Mathematics is an essential component of all educational systems. Mathematical literacy is
being scrutinized in assessment efforts such as the OCDE Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA). This showed a low level in Europe.
Due to the Bologna Process, which brought several didactical implications for Higher Education (HE)
institutions, there is the need of lifelong learning. This evolution is in conflict with the earlier mentioned
lack of competencies on basic sciences, such as Mathematics. Forced by this duality, efforts are
combined to share expertise in the Math field and the integration of pedagogical methodologies
becomes a necessity. Thus, several European countries have proposed an International Project to the
Lifelong Learning Programme, Action ERASMUS Modernisation of Higher Education, to make
institutions more attractive and more responsive to the needs of the labour market, citizens and
society at large. One of the main goals of the project is to attract students to math through high-quality
instructional units in an understandable, exciting and attractive way.Instituto Politécnico do Porto. Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Port
The impact of an online mathematics education project (MATACTIVA) on higher education students
The Online Mathematics Education Project (MatActiva) is an exciting new initiative which aims to
support and enhance mathematics education. The project is led by the Institute of Accounting and
Administration of Porto (ISCAP), part of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (IPP). It provides innovative
resources and carefully constructed materials around themes such as Elementary Mathematics,
Calculus, Algebra, Statistics and Financial Mathematics to help support and inspire students and
teachers of mathematics. The goal is to increase mathematical understanding, confidence and
enjoyment, enrich the mathematical experience of each person, and promote creative and imaginative
approaches to mathematics. Furthermore the project can be used to deliver engaging and effective
mathematics instruction through the flipped classroom model. This paper also presents the findings of
a large survey, whose propose was to study the student’s reaction to the project
Developing multiple - choice questions in mathematics
In this paper we wish to illustrate different perspectives used to create Multiple-Choice questions and
we will show how we can improve these in the construction of math tests.
As it is known, web technologies have a great influence on student’s behaviour. Based on an on-line
project beginning at 2007 which has been contributing to help students on their individual work, we
would like to share our experience and thoughts with colleagues who have a common concern when
they have the task of constructing Multiple-Choice tests.
We feel that Multiple-Choice tests play an important and a very useful supporting role in selfevaluation
or self-examination of our students.
Nonetheless, good Multiple–Choice Test Items are generally more complex and time-consuming to
create than other types of tests. It requires a certain amount of skill. However, this skill maybe
increases through study, practice and experience.
This paper discusses a number of issues related to the use of Multiple-Choice questions, lists the
advantages and disadvantages of this question format contrasting it with open questions. Some
examples are given in this context
O projecto matactiva no ISCAP
A partir do ano 2007/2008 todos os cursos do ISCAP foram adequados ao Processo de Bolonha, o que
pressupõe várias mudanças a nÃvel dos papéis do professor e do aluno, das metodologias e da
avaliação.
A carga horária semanal das disciplinas da Matemática foi bastante reduzida, por isso foi necessário
desenvolver novas estratégias e metodologias de apoio ao aluno.
Para complementar as aulas teóricas e práticas desenvolvemos um projecto com o nome MatActiva
baseado na plataforma Moodle, disponibilizada pelo PAOL (Projecto de Apoio On-Line).
O Moodle permite usar a linguagem TEX para criar materiais que utilizam sÃmbolos matemáticos.
Fazendo uso desta funcionalidade, criámos um conjunto de recursos interactivos de fácil utilização.
No MatActiva os estudantes têm acesso a um conjunto diversificado de materiais: apontamentos
teóricos que lhes fornecem, não só os pré-requisitos necessários para as disciplinas de matemática,
mas também material de acompanhamento aos respectivos programas. Para isso, criaram-se vários
recursos sendo os testes de escolha múltipla os mais procurados pelos alunos. Estes testes podem ser
realizados e corrigidos on-line e para cada resposta errada existe um feedback de resolução.
Como o ISCAP recebe alunos ERASMUS e estes frequentam a disciplina de Matemática, foi também
desenvolvido material em inglês.
Os principais objectivos do nosso projecto são motivar os alunos, encoraja-los a superar as suas
dificuldades de uma forma autónoma, permitindo-lhes aumentar a sua autoconfiança e gosto pela
aprendizagem da Matemática, assim como fomentar a comunicação professor-aluno e aluno-aluno
How to teach mathematics with MOODLE
The aim of this article is to present a Project in the Oporto’s Institute of Accounting and Administration, which pretends to contribute for a change in the way of teaching and learning Mathematics.
One of the main objectives of this project is to innovate the teaching and learning processes, exploring technologies as a pedagogical resource and to induce higher motivation to students, improve the rate of success and make available to students a set of materials adapted to their needs. This concern is justified due to the fact that students have a weak preparation, without consolidated basis.
Since the year 2007/2008 the courses were adjusted to the Bologna process, which requires several changes in teacher’s and student’s roles, methodologies and assessment.
The number of weekly classes has been reduced, so it was necessary to develop new strategies and methodologies to support the student. With the implementation of the Bologna Process in the Accounting degree, we felt a great need to provide other types of activities to students.
To complement our theoretical and practical classes we have developed a project called MatActiva based on the Moodle platform offered by PAOL - Projecto de Apoio On-Line (Online Support Project).
Moodle allows us to use the language TEX to create materials that use mathematical symbols. Using this functionality, we created a set of easy to use interactive resources.
In MatActiva project, the students have access to a variety of different materials. We have followed a strategy that makes the project compatible with the theoretical and practical subjects/classes, complementing them. To do so, we created some resources, for instance multiple-choice tests, which are the most accessed by the students. These tests can be realized and corrected on-line and for each wrong answer there is a feedback with the resolution. We can find other types of resources: diagnostic tests, theoretical notes. There are not only the pre-requirements for subjects mathematics, but also materials to help students follow up the programs. We also developed several lessons. This activity consists of a number of pages, where each page has contents and leads to other pages, based on the student's progress. The teacher creates the choices and determines the next page that the student will see, based upon their knowledge. There is also an area of doubts, where the students can place all the mathematical doubts they have, and a teacher gives the answers or clues to help them in their work. MatActiva also offers an area where we can find some humour, curiosities, contests and games including mathematical contents to test the math skills, as well as links to pages about mathematical contents that could be useful for the study.
Since ISCAP receives ERASMUS students and some of them attend mathematics, we developed some materials in English, so they can also use MatActiva.
The main objectives of our project are not only to bring success in the subjects of mathematics, but also to motivate the students, encourage them to overcome theirs difficulties through an auto-study giving them more confidence and improve their relationship with the mathematics as well as the communication between students and teachers and among students
Multiple-choice tests: a tool in assessing knowledge
The purpose of this paper is to analyse if Multiple-Choice Tests may be considered an
interesting alternative for assessing knowledge, particularly in the Mathematics area, as
opposed to the traditional methods, such as open questions exams.
In this sense we illustrate some opinions of the researchers in this area.
Often the perception of the people about the construction of this kind of exams is that
they are easy to create. But it is not true! Construct well written tests it’s a hard work and
needs writing ability from the teachers.
Our proposal is analyse the construction difficulties of multiple - choice tests as well some
advantages and limitations of this type of tests. We also show the frequent critics and
worries, since the beginning of this objective format usage.
Finally in this context some examples of Multiple-Choice Items in the Mathematics area
are given, and we illustrate as how we can take advantage and improve this kind of tests.Instituto Politécnico do Porto. Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto
Data analysis and learning analytics for measure effects of gamification in a math online project
Nowadays the use of the information and communication technologies (ICT) is more and more
common in the learning and teaching process. Modern forms of education have risen and these
require the implementation of new learning paradigms: situated cognition, student-centred learning,
distributed cognition, constructivism, and communities of practice, among others. However there is an
important problem that concerns educators, the lack of student motivation and engagement in
education, especially in the e-learning environment (Online Education, Online Courses), where the
motivation and the active role of students are definitely the key. Therefore, the interest of researchers
in the subject of gamification, which main pillars are motivation, progressiveness and instant feedback,
has increased. Furthermore, influence of gamification, depending on utilized components (challenge,
curiosity, competion, recognition, etc) may have different effects on students. Thus, there is a need of
deeper understanding of dependencies between engagement and implemented gamification
elements. The goal of such analysis could be personalization of an e-learning system based on a
model that enables management of gamification process individually for every student.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how gamification affects a Mathematics Online Course that
is using this model as a pedagogical strategy. It relates such strategy with active learning practices
and discusses its effectiveness, investigating how gamification can motivate students to participate
more deeply and even to change their self-concept as learners. Moreover, the learning analytics and
data analysis shows that implementation of the gamification components contributes to the
engagement of students in an e-learning environment, having a positive impact on the final grade.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Moodle and multiple-choice tests
Multiple-Choice items are used in many different kinds of tests in several areas of
knowledge.
They can be considered an interesting tool to the self-assessing or as an alternative or
complementary instrument to the traditional methods for assessing knowledge.
The objectivity and accuracy of the multiple-choice tests is an important reason to think
about. They are especially useful when the number of students to evaluate is too large.
Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is an Open Source
course management system centered around learners' needs and designed to support
collaborative approaches to teaching and learning. Moodle offers to the users a rich
interface, context-specific help buttons, and a wide variety of tools such as discussion
forums, wikis, chat, surveys, quizzes, glossaries, journals, grade books and more, that
allow them to learn and collaborate in a truly interactive space.
Come together the interactivity of the Moodle platform and the objectivity of this kind of
tests one can easily build manifold random tests.
The proposal of this paper is to relate our journey in the construction of these tests and
share our experience in the use of the Moodle platform to create, take advantage and
improve the multiple-choices tests in the Mathematic area.Instituto Politécnico do Porto. Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Poert
Rethinking feedback in a connected age
Feedback has long been identified as a core component in the learning process and remains a regular
subject of academic research. It can be performed in several forms, for different purposes but the
literature emphasizes the undeniable power of feedback on the achievement and development of
learning outcomes.
This article presents a reflexion about current trends on feedback in higher education and seeks to
contribute to deepening the theme and the diverse issues related, in a comprehensive and integrative
perspective of the various aspects involved. Different approaches to the concept of feedback, the
characteristics of effective feedback, strategies of successful feedback examples and best practices
will be considered.
We will address recent issues in the literature on the power and challenges of providing feedback in a
connected age through technology. There are few instruments that assess the frequency, type and
impact of feedback in classrooms, however the enormous quantity of data produced surrounding the
interactions in Virtual Learning Environments provides a valuable material to the Learning Analytics
field that can be used to improve feedback practices. This research seeks to enhance the learning
process over the analysis of dataset to provide informative feedback to learners and educators.
In addition, based on a reflexive approach supported by our professional experience performed in the
Moodle platform we present some results of how feedback can be used to optimize mathematical
understanding. We will also present a brief analysis of the data collected in a survey that seeks to
increase the knowledge about students' perceptions regarding this issue.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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