Summative Peer Review of Teaching

[EN] We describe the introduction of a summative peer review of teaching process at the institutional level for the purpose of providing additional, independent evidence of the quality of teaching for teaching awards and academic promotion. This paper will describe the introduction of a formal processes at two universities where the peer review reports are used for decision making purposes. We describe why it is important to separate formative peer review of teaching for professional devlopment and self-improvement purposes from summative peer review for high stakes deciusion making purposes.http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HEAD/HEAD18Crisp, G. (2018). Summative Peer Review of Teaching. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 229-236. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.7954OCS22923

Interactive e-Assessments

It is useful for teachers to reflect on the future formats that will be necessary for assessment tasks. There is currently much discussion concerning the need for immersive and authentic learning environments. Teachers will need to investigate assessments that mix real and virtual environments, testing declarative knowledge and also conditional and procedural capabilities. Teachers will need to contemplate using assessments that measure approaches to problem solving and student responses in terms of efficiency, ethical considerations and the involvement of others. This image of assessment is still sometime away, but will be within reach in the short term. Are academic staff ready to use this framework for assessment? e-Assessment tasks provide opportunities for academic staff to move beyond the type of question traditionally presented in a paper format. Interactivity is possible in e-assessments so that students are more engaged with the prescribed task and permit assessment to become a genuine learning and teaching tool, rather than just a summative evaluation. Java applets and browser plugins enable teachers to create assessment tasks that encourage active participation and the use of real world data or professional tools, to show the extent of student learning. The interactivity inherent in this type of assessment allows students to explore, or make errors, and often seek their own solutions to the assessment tasks. Many java applets are freely available on the web and teachers may use them as stand alone tools within the eassessment task. The science discipline areas such chemistry, biology, geology, physics, mathematics and statistics are well represented, with other discipline areas such as music, business, economics and commerce having some tools available

Interactivity in Online Assessment in Science

The ability of students to interact with teaching material is a key feature adopted by academic staff and publishers as a method to enhance student interest when using resources prepared for web delivery. Multimedia presentations are also frequently used in university courses and students usually respond favorably to well prepared, visually stimulating material. It should be possible to use this same approach to enliven both formative and summative assessment tasks that are delivered via the web. We are developing modules for online assessment using the commercial package TestPilot [http://www.clearlearning.com]. In particular, we are incorporating freeware or shareware java applets into student assessment tasks. Our goal is to enhance the experience and performance of students undertaking any form of online assessment or web-based, interactive activity by providing a suite of tested applications that can be embedded into the assessment or online activity. Although browser plugins may be used for providing interactivity in web pages through packaged applications, we have found this is distracting for students who may not have the appropriate version on their home computer. This paper discusses the criteria we are currently using to assess existing java applets for incorporation into online assessment in science subjects. We will present examples of java applets in tests and present details of the advantages and disadvantages of using these applets in different browsers and on different platforms. The approach we are taking is not dependent on the commercial software we are using to deliver the online tests, but would be applicable to many of the online assessment tools available

Intramolecular hydrogen bonding of (+)-biotin and biotin derivatives in organic solvents

Copyright © ARKAT USA, IncThe document attached has been archived with permission from the publisher.The intramolecular hydrogen bonding of (+)-biotin and biotin derivatives in mixtures of CDCl3 and DMSO-d6 was investigated by 1H NMR spectroscopy. The dynamic changes observed in the chemic al shifts for the 1-NH and 3-NH protons with changes in solvent composition and temperature confirmed the presence of an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the valeryl side chain hydrogen bond acceptor and the 3-NH proton in a range of biotin derivatives.Geoffrey T. Crisp and Yu-Lin Jian

Are we assessing students appropriately for the 21st century world in which they will live and work?

This presentation will explore the 21st century skills and capabilities that our students will need as they live and work in a world dominated by ubiquitous technology as well as increasing uncertainty and complexity. Our assessment practices will need to change; we cannot continue to give students static content-based assessment tasks that ignore the contextual consequences of working in a complex environment with many stakeholders. We will need to expand our repertoire of assessment tasks to include a more sophisticated use of virtual spaces that allow students to construct their responses with access to whatever resources are required to make a meaningful response to a meaningful problem. Students should be required to identify their decision making processes when proposing a solution to a real life problem and to identify all the stakeholders impacted by this response. Students will need to be provided with more authentic, meaningful tasks that will engage them in using the full range of capabilities they have developed during their learning. We will examine some of the implications of this new educational environment and reflect on our current assessment practices in relation to the requirements of this brave new world

Teaching and learning in virtual worlds: is it worth the effort?

Educators have been quick to spot the enormous potential afforded by virtual worlds for situated and authentic learning, practising tasks with potentially serious consequences in the real world and for bringing geographically dispersed faculty and students together in the same space (Gee, 2007; Johnson and Levine, 2008). Though this potential has largely been realised, it generally isn’t without cost in terms of lack of institutional buy-in, steep learning curves for all participants, and lack of a sound theoretical framework to support learning activities (Campbell, 2009; Cheal, 2007; Kluge & Riley, 2008). This symposium will explore the affordances and issues associated with teaching and learning in virtual worlds, all the time considering the question: is it worth the effort

Is it possible to design a relevant syllabus for Level I Chemistry?

Our Department has been involved in a major review of our Level I Chemistry subject over the past 3-5 years. The reasons for the review included a realisation that both staff and students needed to be aware of new paradigms in learning and teaching and that changes in pedagogy would necessitate changes in the presentation format of subjects as well as their method of assessment. Rapid changes in computer technologies are causing staff and students to reconsider the format of their learning and teaching environment. We must regularly assess the importance of current concepts and appropriate modes of delivery for educationally relevant material. In addition to the factual information that students must assimilate, chemical educators need to provide students with a framework within which the information can be used in a constructive manner