Genetic studies on a soil streptomyces sp. that produces an antifungal compoud

Master'sMASTER OF SCIENC

GameLead: A gamified application to engage learners

GameLead won the Social Sciences and MBA Discipline Award and a silver award in the ICT Tools for Learning & Teaching category of the QS Stars Reimagine Education Award 2015</p

Characteristics of Problems in Problem-based Learning

This thesis focuses on characteristics of problems in Problem-based Learning (PBL). Problems initiate the students’ learning process in PBL. Several studies have shown that the quality of problems has a positive influence on students’ academic achievement and interest. In addition, the quality of problems has been shown to have a higher influence than the tutor’s performance and students’ prior knowledge on students’ learning. The implication of these findings is that designing good problems will result in better learning. However, there are very few studies which shed light on the characteristics of problems. To contribute to our understanding of problems characteristics and their influence on students’ learning, this thesis presents five studies. The five studies (1) explored the characteristics of problems in students’ and tutors’ perspectives, (2) developed, validated and tested the reliability of a problem quality rating scale to measure the characteristics of problems, and (3) used the rating scale to study the influence of problem familiarity on students’ learning

Students’ Perspectives on Flipped Classroom Implementation in Higher Education

The author Joelle Elmaleh was publishing under the name Joelle Ducrot. </p

Gamification to Engage Students in Higher Education

Presented at International Conference on Learning and Teaching, 29 September-1 October 2015, Singapore</p

Student and tutor perceptions on attributes of effective problems in problem-based learning

This study aimed to identify the attributes that students and tutors associated with effective PBL problems, and assess the extent to which these attributes related to the actual effectiveness of problems. To this end, students and tutors in focus groups were asked to discuss about possible attributes of effective problems. The same participants were then asked to individually and independently judge eight sample problems they had worked with. Text analysis of the focus group discussion transcripts identified eleven problem attributes. Participants' judgments of the sample problems were then frequency-scored on the eleven problem attributes. Relating the participants' judgments with the entire student cohort's grades yielded high and significant correlations, suggesting that the eleven problem attributes reflect aspects of problem effectiveness

The relationships between problem characteristics, achievement-related behaviors, and academic achievement in problem-based learning

This study investigated the influence of five problem characteristics on students' achievement-related classroom behaviors and academic achievement. Data from 5,949 polytechnic students in PBL curricula across 170 courses were analyzed by means of path analysis. The five problem characteristics were: (1) problem clarity, (2) problem familiarity, (3) the extent to which the problem stimulated group discussion, (4) self-study, and (5) identification of learning goals. The results showed that problem clarity led to more group discussion, identification of learning goals, and self-study than problem familiarity. On the other hand, problem familiarity had a stronger and direct impact on academic achievement

Characteristics of Problems for Problem-Based Learning: The Students’ Perspective

This study aimed to identify salient problem characteristics perceived by students in problem-based curricula. To this end, reflective essays from biomedical students (N = 34) on characteristics of good problems were text analyzed. Students identified eleven characteristics, of which they found the extent to which the problem leads to desired learning outcomes as the most important characteristic. The extent to which the problem stimulates elaboration and the extent to which the problem promotes team effort were considered to be the least important problem characteristics. We clustered the eleven characteristics into two categories, “features” or “functions,” based on the perceived roles of the characteristics. Identification and clustering of the eleven characteristics provide a useful basis for future problem design and evaluation