Using online quizzes for active learning and constructive alignment in a blended learning setting

In this project on university pedagogics I have experimented with very different types of online quizzes and investigated how they can be used to support different aspects of active and visible learning on a research-based master level course in Physics. The quizzes were not part of the formal assessment of the students but the students were nevertheless very engaged in the quizzes and in most cases felt they achieved deep learning of the topic by working with the quizzes

Virtual neutron scattering experiments - Training and preparing students for large-scale facility experiments

Dansk Vi beskriver, hvordan virtuelle eksperimenter kan udnyttes i et læringsdesign ved at forberede de studerende til hands-on-eksperimenter ved storskalafaciliteter. Vi illustrerer designet ved at vise, hvordan virtuelle eksperimenter bruges på Niels Bohr Institutets kandidatkursus om neutronspredning. I den sidste uge af kurset, rejser studerende til et storskala neutronspredningsfacilitet for at udføre neutronspredningseksperimenter. Vi bruger studerendes udsagn om deres oplevelser til at argumentere for, at arbejdet med virtuelle experimenter forbereder de studerende til at engagere sig mere frugtbart med eksperimenter ved at lade dem fokusere på fysikken og relevante data i stedet for instrumenternes funktion. Vi hævder, at det er, fordi de kan overføre deres erfaringer med virtuelle eksperimenter til rigtige eksperimenter. Vi finder dog, at læring stadig er situeret i den forstand, at kun kendskab til bestemte eksperimenter overføres. Vi afslutter med at diskutere de muligheder, som virtuelle eksperimenter giver. English We describe how virtual experiments can be utilized in a learning design that prepares students for hands-on experiments at large-scale facilities. We illustrate the design by showing how virtual experiments are used at the Niels Bohr Institute in a master level course on neutron scattering. In the last week of the course, students travel to a large-scale neutron scattering facility to perform real neutron scattering experiments. Through student interviews and survey answers, we argue, that the virtual training prepares the students to engage more fruitfully with experiments by letting them focus on physics and data rather than the overwhelming instrumentation. We argue that this is because they can transfer their virtual experimental experience to the real-life situation. However, we also find that learning is still situated in the sense that only knowledge of particular experiments is transferred. We proceed to discuss the affordances of virtual experiments

Magnetic ordering in electronically phase-separated La2-xSrxCuO4+y: Neutron diffraction experiments

We present results of magnetic neutron diffraction experiments on the codoped superoxygenated La2-xSrxCuO4+y (LSCO+O) system with x=0.09. We find that the magnetic phase is long-range ordered incommensurate antiferromagnetic with a Neacuteel temperature T-N coinciding with the superconducting ordering temperature T-c=40 K. The incommensurability value is consistent with a hole doping of n(h)approximate to 1>8 but in contrast to nonsuperoxygenated La2-xSrxCuO4 with hole doping close to n(h)approximate to 18 the magnetic-order parameter is not field dependent. We attribute this to the magnetic order being fully developed in LSCO+O as in the spin and charge ordered "stripe" compounds La1.48Nd0.40Sr0.12CuO4 and La7/8Ba1/8CuO4

Measurement of unique magnetic and superconducting phases in oxygen-doped high-temperature superconductors La_2-xSr_xCuO_4+y

We present a combined magnetic neutron scattering and muon spin rotation study of the nature of the magnetic and superconducting phases in electronically phase separated La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4+y), x = 0.04, 065, 0.09. For all samples, we find long-range modulated magnetic order below T_N ~ T_c = 39 K. In sharp contrast wit oxygen-stoichiometric La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4), we find that the magnetic propagation vector as well as the ordered magnetic moment is independent of Sr content and consistent with that of the 'striped' cuprates. Our study provides direct proof that superoxygenation in La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4+y) allows the spin stripe ordered phase to emerge and phase separate from superconducting regions with the hallmarks of optimally doped oxygen-stoichiometric La(2-x)Sr(x)CuO(4)

WIKIs for online documents and textbooks

In this paper we describe ways to use the Wiki-platform as a tool for learning. In our teaching we have used Wiki's as an on-line text-book, for student collaborative work and as the practical course presentation. The choice of optimal software for a WIKI (e.g. MediaWiki, or Wikispaces) depends on the intended use, we describe our experiences with various software in the three cases above. No matter the overall purpose for the use of the Wiki, it has a great functionality that it easily updatable, it is used widely thus the format is known to the students. Besides printed literature more and more teaching material is available in a digital version and accessed either via special software or an internet browser, the same way a wiki is accessed, this automatically integrates the various learning material and gives easy and fast access to relevant information for the students.If you are not a computer expert it is not easy to set up a private web server to host a wiki, however, this can in many cases be avoided by choosing a commercially available Wiki's.We conclude that Wiki's implemented for online educational teaching material help a large part of the students to structure their studies and attain the intended learning outcomes and at least for some students in their collaborative work the learning outcome is above expected for the course