1,720,979 research outputs found
Assessing the Contribution of Collections of Case Studies to Academic Development in Higher Education
No full textIn recent years there has been a proliferation of paper-based and electronic collections of case studies focusing on different facets of academic practice in higher education. Inherent in their compilation and dissemination is the assumption that these collections contribute to improvements in practice. How justified is such an assumption? This question serves as a backdrop to the paper in which attention is given to the range and variety of collections of case studies; their nature and purpose; positive and negative arguments concerning their value; and their role in educational development. It is concluded that, if collections of case studies are to make an effective contribution to educational development, academic developers should attend to a variety of questions concerning their adoption and use
Audit and control of the use of the internet for learning and teaching: issues for stakeholders in higher education
No full textThe Internet is becoming more widely used by academic institutions to support the learning and teaching activities of students and academic staff. Whilst this is a very efficient mechanism, it is, arguably, important that there are adequate controls in place to ensure that the information is not libellous, defamatory, inaccurate, illegal or inappropriate. The interactivity of the Internet, the immediacy of access to its contents and the public accessibility to much of its information, however, do provide a different operating environment and therefore different audit and control issues arise.This paper discusses the roles and concerns of a range of stakeholders and suggests that the control mechanisms might be failing, or might not be adequately policed in practice. A number of examples are provided where the manner in which controls are put in place do not operate effectively, or where there may be control loops that are open-ended. For each of the stakeholder groups that are identified, an account is given of the use to which the Internet is put and where regulation currently exists or may be desirable
Development and evaluation of computer-assisted assessment in higher education in relation to BS7988
No full textA university-wide project team of academic and administrative staff worked together to prepare, deliver and evaluate a number of diagnostic, formative and summative computer-based assessments. The team also attempted to assess the University of Southampton's readiness to deliver computer-assisted assessment (CAA) within the Code of practice for the use of information technology in the delivery of assessments (British Standards Institution, 2002). Evaluation data was used formatively to improve procedures during the project and summatively in preparing the project's final report, this publication and future support for CAA at Southampton. Some of the problems encountered during this pilot programme were anticipated, both by the project team and by BS7988; but they were not necessarily or entirely avoidable given the nature of control and management in an academic environment. Our approach was to encourage institutional learning via extensive dissemination and discussion of the results. To contribute to the public debate on the adoption of BS7988, we highlight difficulties in allocating responsibility for various aspects of the assessment process and make a number of recommendations about this and other practical issues
From videocassette to video stream: Issues involved in re‐purposing an existing educational video
Full text linkConventional video recordings can be converted into video streams but the process can be complex and problematic. The authors’ experience of re‐purposing an existing video, Back Care for Health Professionals, for streaming is used to illustrate what was involved and to highlight the important issues. Financial, legal, technical and pedagogic issues are examined
Accessing and engaging with video streams for educational purposes: experiences, issues and concerns
Full text linkVideo streaming has the potential to offer tutors a more flexible and accessible means of incorporating moving images into learning resources for their students than conventional video. Consideration is given to this assertion by drawing upon the experiences of staff and evidence from students at the University of Southampton in the use of a video, Back Care for Health Professionals, before and after it was streamed. The resulting case study highlights various issues and concerns, both logistical and pedagogic. These include ease of access, the form and frequency of guidance with respect to technical matters, the use of multiple channels of communication to convey key messages about the availability and value of the video, and the provision of demonstrations or 'tasters'. In other words, what some might regard as the 'softer' aspects of technological developments should receive at least as much attention as the 'harder'
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
Decoding Feedback: Improving feedback practices for students in introductory programming courses
Full text linkHigh failure rates in introductory programming courses testify that learning to program is challenging for many students. This problem is widely acknowledged in the field of com- puter science education research. In higher education, quality feedback from teachers is regarded as one of the main contributors to improve student learning. Feedback to support students’ development into self-regulated learners, who set their own goals, self-monitor their actual performance according to these goals and adjust learning strategies if neces- sary, is seen as an especially important aspect of contemporary feedback practice.
For this research project the notion of feedback, as described within the higher education literature, was reviewed and provides a theoretical basis to address the question of how to support first year programming students. A framework to consider effective feedback was developed and used to assess feedback practice in the context of introductory program- ming courses. Various opportunities to integrate research from computer science educa- tion to support feedback processes were revealed. A gap in the research became apparent when searching for ways to support students’ self-regulated learning and we realised that only those students who are informed about course demands and the impact of certain study behaviours on their final achievement are in a position to self-regulate their learning on an informed basis.
As a next step we analysed the predictive value of naturally occurring course data for stu- dents’ final performance at different stages in our course. All data sets, drawn from the records of 387 students enrolled in 2011 and 2012, correlated significantly with students’ final examination results and we were able to define risk factors as well as performance indicators. Based on those findings an infographic for students was developed communi- cating course characteristics and projected final performance for different achievement levels at various stages of the course.
To explore the impact of feedback on self-regulation level as well as to learn about students’ attitudes towards diagnostic course data in general, a scoping study was conducted in 2013. Over 200 students were supplied with the infographic. The results from the study suggest that students valued the information, but, despite high engagement with the information, students’ study behaviour and learning outcome remained rather unaffected for the aspects investigated. Given these multi-layered results, we suggest further exploration on the pro- vision of feedback based on diagnostic course data – a vital step towards more transparency for students to foster their active role in the learning process
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
Evaluating of the use of streaming video to support student learning in a first-year life sciences course for student nurses
No full textStreaming video was used to support the learning of first year student nurses on a Life Sciences module, as one of many innovations designed to increase the range of resources and support available to students. This paper describes the background to this innovation, the procedures adopted and the results of extensive evaluation. The use of streaming video was evaluated in three applications in the module. A total of 656 students used online directed-learning sessions that incorporated streamed video. Just over half of these students actually viewed the video streams. Their feedback showed that 32% found access easy, 59% enjoyed using the resources, and 25% were very confident that they learned from them. Different types of video were used, and embedded in diverse ways, but the results were consistent across the three applications. They suggest that streamed video can contribute to useful resources to support learning by student nurses but, for a variety of reasons, it may not appeal or be adequately accessible to all students at present
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