An evaluation of a module in problem-based learning

As a result of a variety of pressures on the existing medical curriculum, the Faculty of Medicine, University of Natal, South Africa, introduced an experimental module in Problem-Based Learning. The module, which was inserted into the traditional undergraduate curriculum, ran for one month in March/April of 1994. This paper investigates the effects of the module on students and on members of the Faculty, and it outlines prerequisites for further curriculum innovation.     

An evaluation of European learning objects in use

Most studies on reusable digital learning materials, learning objects (LOs), relate to their use in universities. Few empirical studies exist to explore the impact of LOs on pedagogy, especially in schools. This paper provides evidence from an evaluation of the use of LOs in schools. The evidence is from a European Union‐funded project, Context eLearning with Broadband Technologies (CELEBRATE), involving 500 schools in six countries across Europe, in a pilot to examine the impact of LOs on pedagogy. It brought together producers and users to try out technically and pedagogically sound ways of producing, making available through a portal, and using LOs. This paper reports data from both quantitative and qualitative studies conducted during 2004, including: online surveys (of all the teachers involved), routine data from the portal and semi‐structured interviews in 40 schools in all six countries.     

An experiential system for learning probability: Stat Lady description and evaluation

This paper describes a computer-based instructional system called Stat Lady, and reports the results of an evaluation study that tested the efficacy of learning probability from this program in relation to a traditional Lecture and a no-treatment Control group. Results showed that both treatment groups learned significantly more than the Control group, yet there was no difference between the two treatment groups in outcome performance after three hours of instruction. This was viewed as encouraging because: (a) due to sampling error, students assigned to the Stat Lady condition were at a disadvantage, scoring about 20 points less on the quantitative SAT measure compared to the Lecture group, and about 25 points less than the Control group, (b) the lecture constituted a more familiar learning environment for these subjects, and (c) the professor administering the Lecture had more than 20 years experience teaching this subject matter, while this was Stat Lady's first teaching assignment. We also found a significant aptitude-treatment interaction where high-aptitude subjects learned more from Stat Lady than from the Lecture environment, but for low-aptitude subjects, there was no difference in learning outcome by condition. Implications of these findings will be discussed in relation to future computer-based instructional research.

     

An evaluation of a project-based learning initiative in engineering education

Project-based learning (PBL) is a well-known methodology for engineering design education due to a number of benefits it is claimed to offer. This paper presents the initial offering of a first-year engineering PBL unit at Griffith University in Australia. An evaluation of student perceptions of the unit revealed that students generally enjoyed the experience, with the oral presentation aspect receiving the lowest satisfaction rating. There was no significant difference in the ratings between any demographic grouping, suggesting that all students were able to participate in, and experience, the unit in essentially the same way. The best aspects of the unit and those aspects needing improvement were similar to the findings of other investigations documented in the literature. It is proposed that future offerings of the unit will reduce the number of design projects from three to two per semester and will attempt more sophisticated individualisation of marks for group work activities.     

An evaluation of an out-of-school-hours learning project in South Wales

In early 2002, the DfES announced that it intends to relax the National Curriculum for certain sections of the 14 to 19 years school age population to enable less able, disadvantaged and disaffected pupils to be allowed to spend more time on alternative and vocational curriculum initiatives. This article is one of the first to focus on a major out-of-school-hours learning scheme along the lines currently being predicated by the Government. Specifically, this article focuses on the evaluation of the Mountain Ash Partnership Out-of-school-hours Learning Project (MAP) from the pupils' perspective. The MAP Project was supported by a grant of £198,065 from the New Opportunities Fund over a three-year period between 1999 and 2002. Findings support the view that alternative curriculum schemes can significantly change and improve disadvantaged pupils' attitudes towards learning and the way they perceive their schools.     

Course evaluation: reconfigurations for learning with learning management systems

The introduction of online delivery platforms such as learning management systems (LMS) in tertiary education has changed the methods and modes of curriculum delivery and communication. While course evaluation methods have also changed from paper-based in-class-administered methods to largely online-administered methods, the data collection instruments have remained unchanged. This paper reports on a small exploratory study of two tertiary-level courses. The study investigated why design of the instruments and methods to administer surveys in the courses are ineffective measures against the intrinsic characteristics of online learning. It reviewed the students' response rates of the conventional evaluations for the courses over an eight-year period. It then compared a newly developed online evaluation and the conventional methods over a two-year period. The results showed the response rates with the new evaluation method increased by more than 80% from the average of the conventional evaluations (below 30%), and the students' written feedback was more detailed and comprehensive than in the conventional evaluations. The study demonstrated the possibility that the LMS-based learning evaluation can be effective and efficient in terms of the quality of students' participation and engagement in their learning, and for an integrated pedagogical approach in an online learning environment.     

The advising system: An alternative model related to the evaluation of self-directed learning

The proposed advising model focuses on creative learning. To operationalize such a model, there must be not only structural but behavioral changes in the existing system. This requires that professional educators have special concern for the quality of relationships between faculty and students. In a program which focuses on creative learning, most students need assistance in developing the understanding and skill necessary for creative learning. An alternative advising model is proposed, therefore, which enhances the behavioral requirements. The alternative model views the advising function as a teaching-consulting function with a priority goal of helping the student learn the art of self-evaluation as a prerequisite to life-long learning.     

《现代教育技术》课程网上学习评价策略的探讨

本文从《现代教育技术》课程的性质、地位及建设现状入手。围绕《现代教育技术》网络课程的目标定位，从评价环境、评价过程、评价主体、评价内容、评价结果等方面对《现代教育技术》课程的网上学习提出了具体的评价策略。认为网上学习评价应该注重评价真实性、情境化、多元化、多样性、融合性。     

An evaluation of multimodal interactions with technology while learning science concepts

This paper explores the value of employing multiple modalities to facilitate science learning with technology. In particular, it is argued that when multiple modalities are employed, learners construct strong relations between physical movement and visual representations of motion. Body interactions with visual representations, enabled by interactive technologies, can encourage rhythmic cycles of engagement and reflection. A study was carried out to investigate how students interpret distance–time and velocity–time graphs created through hand movement. It explored the dynamic coupling between their body movements and graphs, and their subsequent interpretation and production of graphs on paper. The results show that physical manipulation of kinematics graphs has a significantly greater effect on students' ability to relate graphs to movement than observing the graphs being produced by someone else.     

An evaluation of a professional learning network for computer science teachers

This paper describes and evaluates aspects of a professional development programme for existing CS teachers in secondary schools (PLAN C) which was designed to support teachers at a time of substantial curricular change. The paper’s particular focus is on the formation of a teacher professional development network across several hundred teachers and a wide geographical area. Evidence from a series of observations and teacher surveys over a two-year period is analysed with respect to the project’s programme theory in order to illustrate not only whether it worked as intended, by why. Results indicate that the PLAN C design has been successful in increasing teachers’ professional confidence and appears to have catalysed powerful change in attitudes to learning. Presentation of challenging pedagogical content knowledge and conceptual frameworks, high-quality teacher-led professional dialogue, along with the space for reflection and classroom trials, triggered examination of the teachers’ own current practices.     

云计算辅助教学CCAI支撑的协作学习设计

基于教育技术视角,简述了“云计算辅助教学”CCAI的相关概念,分析了云计算及典型云平台的基本现状,并结合Google App Engine和Windows Live典型云平台,讨论了CCAI协作学习的设计过程．包括功能模块与组件选取、组织教学资源、设计协作学习活动、组件的个性化自主扩充等。     

An individual learning journey: learning as becoming a vocational teacher

In this paper, I address a perceived gap in the lifelong learning literature. There is very little research which addresses how learning should be construed, when individuals transition across a longitudinal span of their working life. This transition which could be viewed as a process of ‘becoming somebody’, often oversimplifies the full complexity of individuals’ learning experiences. Using a sociocultural perspective, the paper explores the lived experiences of individuals in the process of becoming a vocational teacher, in order to help conceptualise the individuals’ learning through their working life. The study draws upon data from a completed research on a group of vocational education trainee teachers learning to teach. This paper argues that learning varies significantly from individual to individual, time to time, context to context and also in different stages of individuals’ lives. This transition could be viewed as an individual learning journey, through understanding the interrelationship between individuals and the contexts, across the individuals’ lives. Drawing from this understanding, the individual’s agency is presented as a way that individuals construct their own lifecourse through the actions and choices they made within the opportunities and constraints of the context. The findings of the study also contribute to the understanding of changes, from the individual learner’s perspective, which could be useful for policy and practice relating to lifelong learning.