1,721,160 research outputs found
Logging student answer data in CALL exercises to gauge feedback efficacy
Get PDFAn important advantage of online assessment work is that answer data can be easily stored and later analysed with a view to establishing the efficacy of the assessment methodology. A 5-year study of the effectiveness of online grammar exercises has been carried out at the University of Kent. The exercises featured require input in the form of whole sentences (since this is a more authentic test of language skills than single word input or multiple choice). Error feedback is generic (indicating where errors have occurred) rather than specific (indicating the exact nature of the errors) because the error-diagnosis system has been designed to be completely language independent. The study aimed to gauge whether this type of feedback is effective - in terms of enabling students to:
· identify the types of mistakes in their input;
· rectify the mistakes;
· learn from the mistakes and apply that learning to subsequent problems
There was initial concern that the generic feedback might not provide enough detail to enable users to understand and correct their errors - however extensive use by the University's Spanish department has shown that this type of mark-up is very effective. Chapelle (1998) stresses that it is important for learners to be given the opportunity to correct their linguistic errors. Users of this system, having failed to answer a question correctly on their first attempt, are permitted a second attempt. It is abundantly clear from the logged data that where users make mistakes in their first attempt (and they generally do since the material is designed to be testing), there is almost always a significant improvement in attempt two. This alone would be enough to show that the feedback mode is effective. However this was not enough to prove the pedagogical efficacy of this means of exercise presentation. Therefore more detailed analysis was performed. Over several years of trials more than 100,000 answers have been logged and every answer has been analysed. It can be shown that, for well-designed exercises, as students progress through an exercise they improve in three ways:
· more questions are answered correctly on the first attempt;
· overall questions scores (i.e. the average of 1st and 2nd attempts at questions) improve;
· thinking time for formulating answers decreases
The degree of increase in accuracy and decrease in thinking time is exercise-dependent, but the overall picture shows clearly that the generic, language-independent feedback is indeed effective. Moreover, it is easy to identify poorly designed exercises since they do not exhibit the characteristics listed above
3D printing with critical thinking and systems design:an innovative approach to task-based language teaching in technical communication
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Semi-automated assessment of handwritten mathematics tasks: Atomic, reusable feedback for assessing student tests by teachers and exams by a group of assessors
No full textAbstract: Feedback is the most powerful engine of any learning process. In mathematics education, the possibilities to assess automatedly are thoroughly explored. However, students face difficulties expressing themselves mathematically on a computer and learning systems can often only assess the outcome, not the solving method. Research indicates that automated tests focus too much on procedural fluency at the expense of higher-order thinking questions. It takes much effort to develop digital tests, and teachers are sceptical of using automated assessments, meaning that paper-and-pencil tests still dominate mathematics classrooms. One of the characteristics of mathematical assessment is that wrong answers tend to exhibit patterns among the student population. Consequently, teachers often repeat their feedback and grades, bringing us to the idea of semi-automated feedback and assessment: by correcting handwritten tasks digitally, feedback can be saved and reused. This could lead to more elaborate feedback, time savings, and enhanced inter-rater reliability. Specifically, two semi-automatic assessment approaches were developed and studied. In the first study, teachers write feedback for a student, and the computer saves it so that it can be reused when subsequent students make the same or similar mistakes. The concept of atomic feedback has been introduced to train teachers on how to write reusable feedback. Atomic feedback consists of a set of format requirements for mathematical feedback items, which has been shown to increase the reusability of feedback. A remarkable result was discovered during a crossover experiment with 45 mathematics teachers: the semi-automated approach led teachers to give significantly more feedback instead of saving time. Moreover, the teachers\u2019 feedback with the semi-automatic tool did not always have better properties than classic pen-and-paper feedback. The second study was conducted in collaboration with the Flemish Exam Commission. Their traditional grading method of handwritten mathematics exams was transformed into a semi-automated one called \u2018checkbox grading.\u2019 Every assessor receives a list of checkboxes, and they must tick those that apply to the student\u2019s solution. Dependencies between these checkboxes can be set to ensure all assessors take the same path down the grading scheme. The system automatically calculates the grade and results in atomic feedback giving a detailed insight into what went wrong and how the grade was obtained. The approach requires more time for assessors and did not enhance inter-rater reliability compared to the traditional method (did not make it worse either). However, the resulting transparency and students\u2019 feedback were highly valued. Moreover, students could easily understand the resulting feedback, even the lower-performing ones
De vinger aan de pols houden : ontwerp van extern geanalyseerde externe feedback gericht op de transfer van leren van technische vaardigheden in musiceren
No full textAbstract: Playing a musical instrument is a complex skill on many dimensions, where technical skills are always required. In education in general, a problem in the transfer of learning occurs, which is also the case in practicing musical skills. The goal of this thesis was to design education and testing the technological feasibility of this design, where the focus has been placed on the individual practice context, to promote the transfer of learning of technical skills in music. Externally analyzed external feedback is identified as a precondition to promote the transfer of learning of technical skills in music, because it could facilitate practicing in a realistic practice environment - the execution of songs - allowing for variation and an external focus of attention to be automatically included in the practice sessions. The designed external feedback for this specific context is direct feedback on every (correct and incorrect) executed movement, visually presented through colors in the peripheral vision of the player. To embed this in a realistic practice environment, technology is needed, specifically image based gesture recognition. A technological application has been developed to provide the designed feedback. Therefore, a case was chosen: the two-plucking right hand technique for bass guitar. MediaPipe Hands has been chosen as the underlying framework for image based gesture recognition, which has been tweaked to identify the two key elements of the technique: localization of the strings and displaying the movement of the fingers. Tests with the technological application under various conditions revealed that it is possible for the application to meet these requirements, but only under very specific conditions. After that, the research focused on detecting strokes on the different strings. Here was concluded that the current version of the underlying framework can't track the fingers accurate enough. Finally, a brief look was taken at the possibilities for the current version of the technological application for music education. Possibilities arise specifically for static movements and postures, or combining the framework with sensors on the hand. Another opportunity lies in the use of artificial intelligence for recognizing movements instead of the explicit knowledge approach used in this research. The expectation is that the application can be further developed in the future. It then can be used in various follow-up studies, for example by providing information about the movements made by professionals and beginning players and focusing on further development, including for example cognitive load and user experience
Peer perspectives on systemization : a book review of Wilfried Decoos 'Systemization in foreign language teaching'
No full textGoing Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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