1,720,960 research outputs found
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Backward Design in Enhancing Formative Assessment Practices
Full text linkThe research investigates backward design implementation in formative assessment practices to determine its effects on instructional effectiveness, student engagement, and curriculum coherence. It employed a mixed-methods design to gather data from 26 in-service teachers who specialized in STEM and English as a Foreign Language at public, private, and UNRWA schools in Palestine. The research used a combination of structured questionnaires and follow-up interviews to obtain both quantitative and qualitative data. Results showed that teachers acknowledge backward design benefits, which include better student comprehension and improved assessment-objective alignment and student motivation, yet they faced implementation difficulties. Teachers indicated that backward design planning led to increased student participation, better critical thinking abilities, and stronger student ownership of their learning. The participants suggested three modifications to backward design, which included adaptable templates, lighter curriculum requirements, and student reflection integration. The research indicates backward design shows potential to improve formative assessment, but its successful implementation needs specific professional development and contextual modifications. It also demonstrates backward design's value for teaching and learning, yet emphasizes the necessity of combining it with conventional curriculum methods in various educational contexts
AI-Supported Formative Assessments: Enhancing Student-Centered Learning and Teacher Perceptions
Full text linkThis study evaluates the effectiveness of AI-supported formative assessments in student-centered learning. Using a reliable questionnaire with a Cronbach's alpha of .854, the research explores teachers' views on AI tools and their impact on formative assessment practices. The findings reveal a generally positive attitude among educators, with an average score of 92.79 and a moderate standard deviation of 9.03, indicating a strong appreciation for AI's role in data collection, analysis, and the creation of innovative assessment tasks. However, the variability in responses points to differing levels of familiarity and perception regarding AI. Interestingly, there were no significant differences in opinions among teachers from public, private, or UNRWA schools, suggesting that factors beyond the type of school play a role in shaping perceptions of AI in formative assessment. Ethical concerns also emerged, including issues related to data privacy, intellectual property, and the potential effects on critical thinking skills. These concerns underscore the necessity for robust data protection policies, ethical guidelines, and comprehensive educational training to mitigate risks and foster responsible AI use. The study concludes that while AI has the potential to greatly enhance formative assessments by boosting efficiency and offering valuable insights, its integration must be approached with careful attention to ethical considerations and academic integrity. Establishing clear guidelines and training programs is crucial for effectively utilizing AI in a student-centered learning environment
Computer-Based Assessment and Enhancement of Inductive Reasoning Skills: A Case Study of the Education System Development in Palestine
Full text linkThe present research aims to assess and enhance Palestinian primary school pupils’ inductive reasoning thinking skills in their early school age by means of technology. We intended to explore the possibility of applying online tests that already have established psychometric characteristics to assess pupils in regular Palestinian educational practice at the early stages of schooling. First, we explored the feasibility and the applicability of computer-based assessment among young pupils by testing their basic mouse skills. Second, we moved forward by the adaptation and piloting of a computer-based inductive reasoning test, developed in Hungary to find out its applicability in Palestinian educational context. Finally, we adapted and developed an online training program for inductive reasoning further based on the Palestinian school curriculum and run the intervention study. The present empirical research connects important developing areas of educational research and places them in the context of the development of the Palestinian education system: (a) improving the quality of thinking skills in the Palestinian educational context especially when it comes to early age school children, (b) giving more attention to educational assessment in research and practice, which can open the doors to evidence-based educational developments, (c) using the advantages of computer-based testing, e.g. reducing the timeframe and costs of assessment. In the main part of this study, we investigated the effectiveness of an online intervention programme on different samples, that is, on different groups of pupils having different levels of inductive reasoning, having different socio-economic factors, and gender. Due to the pioneering nature of the present research study in the Palestinian educational context, at the end of the dissertation we provide a multitude of recommendations and suggestions for further researches
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Applying Computer-based Testing in Palestine: Assessing Fourth and Fifth Graders Inductive Reasoning
Full text linkDispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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