1,720,993 research outputs found
Continuing Professional Development for the Computing Academic: Wheeling in the Trojan Horse
No full textPaired Programming for Non-Computing Students.
No full textIn this paper, we describe a method used to teach non-computer science students how to program. We examine why students may not be engaging with the material and present an alternative method for conducting laboratory sessions. We allow students to self select their perceived level of expertise and use paired programming techniques. This has proved to be effective on several levels, engaging students and reducing demonstrator loading
Focusing on the Question: an XML Testbank
No full textE3AN [1] is a HEFCE funded project to develop a network of expertise in assessment issues within electrical and electronic engineering. A major focus of this project is the development of a testbank of questions for use both in formative and summative assessment. During 2000, consultants (subject specialists) from the partner institutions met to identify important learning outcomes for their subject specialism, and then produced sets of appropriate questions (and model answers) to assess those learning outcomes. The questions were peer reviewed. It is intended to repeat the whole process again, starting this year, using many more consultants from across the country. The resulting testbank will contain thousands of well constructed and tested questions and answers from which teachers may select questions appropriate to their students' needs. When the questions are ready for use they must be stored electronically in a form ready for distribution. A significant number of these questions are objective tests (multiple choice, numeric answer etc), and such questions may be delivered both on paper and on-line, possibly using dedicated test engines such as QuestionMark Perception or, possibly by using the test engines within virtual learning environments such as Blackboard or WebCT. Other questions are intended for use in contexts such as example classes and examination revision. This paper describes the database that we designed to store and distribute the questions. It examines the issues relating to standards and portability for the database, the issues of moving questions, which include equations and drawings, from one platform to another and the issues of making the database searchable. It also looks at the lessons we have learned and how we intend to improve the processes and the database for the next round of consultants. In the first round of question production authors used MS-Word templates to enter their questions, and these templates also required the authors to enter metadata - information about the questions such as the subject the question examines, the level of the question, the type of question, the cognitive skills required, the time expected etc. This information was used in the database to design an interface to allow teachers to select appropriate sets of questions from the testbank. In order to allow the transfer of objective questions from the database into test engines, the data is stored using an enhanced version of QTI (Question Test Interoperability) which is an emerging XML standard designed for exactly that purpose. The QTI has been expanded to allow the representation of non-objective questions, such as short answer questions and written exam questions. As well as importing questions into test engines, our requirement is that users can browse the questions on-line, using a standard web browser, and can print or export the questions from the browser. The presentation of this paper will include a demonstration of the database in action. [1] E3AN: Electrical and Electronic Engineering Assessment Network. FDTL Phase 3 project (No. 53/99) . Lead by University of Southampton in partnership with Bournemouth University, Portsmouth University and Southampton Institute. http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/E3AN
Experiences Migrating Microcosm Learning Materials
No full textMicrocosm was an open hypertext system that evolved in the early 1990s, before the advent of the Web. Apart from its success as a research platform it was widely used for presenting interactive educational materials. Since the commercial version of the product ceased to be supported it became necessary for users to migrate their educational materials, generally to the Web. However, the SToMP consortium chose to implement their own environment copying parts of the functionality of Microcosm in order to achieve their educational objectives. This paper examines the motivations of this work in order to understand whether there were features that were available in Microcosm that were not replicated in current Web based solutions
Is Simple Sequencing Simple Adaptive Hypermedia?
No full textIn this paper, we explore the differences between the Adaptive Hypermedia and IMS Simple Sequencing approaches. Both approaches provide learning material tailored for the learner’s current context. Understanding the difference between the approaches enables us to identify the best features of each, and thus to identify research agendas for improvement of adaptive hypermedia and of Web-based Learning Management System
Engineering a Testbank of Engineering Questions
No full texte3an is a collaborative UK project developing a network of expertise in assessment issues within electrical and electronic engineering. A major focus is the development of a testbank of peer-reviewed questions for diagnostic, formative and summative assessment. The resulting testbank will contain thousands of well-constructed and tested questions and answers. Question types include objective, numeric, short answer and examination. Initially a set of metadata descriptors were specified classifying information such as subject, level and type of cognitive skills being assessed. Academic consultants agreed key curriculum areas (themes), identified important learning outcomes and produced sets of exemplar questions and answers. Questions were authored in a word processor then converted to the database format. Major pedagogical, organisational and technical issues were encountered, including specification of appropriate interoperable data formats, the standards for data entry and the design of an intuitive interface to enable effective use
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