The potential for student performance prediction in small cohorts with minimal available attributes

The measurement of student performance during their progress through university study provides academic leadership with critical information on each student’s likelihood of success. Academics have traditionally used their interactions with individual students through class activities and interim assessments to identify those “at risk” of failure/withdrawal. However, modern university environments, offering easy on-line availability of course material, may see reduced lecture/tutorial attendance, making such identification more challenging. Modern data mining and machine learning techniques provide increasingly accurate predictions of student examination assessment marks, although these approaches have focussed upon large student populations and wide ranges of data attributes per student. However, many university modules comprise relatively small student cohorts, with institutional protocols limiting the student attributes available for analysis. It appears that very little research attention has been devoted to this area of analysis and prediction. We describe an experiment conducted on a final-year university module student cohort of 23, where individual student data are limited to lecture/tutorial attendance, virtual learning environment accesses and intermediate assessments. We found potential for predicting individual student interim and final assessment marks in small student cohorts with very limited attributes and that these predictions could be useful to support module leaders in identifying students potentially “at risk.”     

Student Response Technology: Empirically grounded or just a gimmick?

Student Response Technology (SRT) involves the use of hand‐held remotes by students during classroom lectures to electronically respond to questions. This study surveyed 350 students enrolled in one of 13 lower‐division university science classes taught by five different instructors who used SRT. The survey probed students’ perceptions of SRT in terms of enhancing student learning, and investigated which features of SRT students felt had the greatest/least impact on student learning. The majority of students reported that the SRT increased their content understanding, class participation, alertness, and interactions with fellow students, helped with examination preparation, provided important and immediate instructor feedback, and made class more enjoyable. Students in this study scored more positively than peer groups on survey questions related to student engagement in academic and intellectual experiences, suggesting that SRT helps to promote student engagement. Important instructor actions identified during this study that augment the enhancing effects of SRT on student learning, even in large lecture settings, include designing clear, substantive questions, reviewing correct and incorrect answers with students, and making pedagogical adjustments based on class responses.     

Who attends and completes virtual universities: the case of the open University of Catalonia (UOC)

A highly touted feature of the so-called global “revolution” in higher education is the trend to use information technology to reach a broader clientele. Although there is evidence that students may be learning the material in on-line courses as well as in traditional face-to-face universities, how well students learn content is not the only reason they persist to a degree, and student persistence is an important goal of higher education institutions. In this paper, we make the case that the life conditions for students attending virtual universities are different from those of “traditional” students in face-to-face universities, and that this difference puts a particular (largely non-pecuniary) premium on time to degree. With our data from a Catalan virtual university, the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), we are able to test this hypothesis directly by using the heterogeneous degree structure of the Catalonian/Spanish higher education system to estimate whether the number of courses required to get various degrees (the length of the degree program) is significantly related to student persistence. The study analyzes several cohorts of students (those who entered in 2000–2003) studying in the UOC and estimates the factors that influence their degree completion. We find that the completion rate is generally low, but that students taking shorter degree courses at the UOC are much more likely to complete their degrees. This suggests that, given their clientele, on-line universities operate under very different constraints from their face-to-face counterparts. Our results are important for higher educational researchers, who have mainly focused on younger populations attending face-face universities. They also can serve university administrators who launch distance education degree programs and make high stakes decisions about them with little of no information on the likely behavior of their older students, and can serve employers who are deciding whether to subsidize their employees to take advanced degrees through on-line programs of study.     

Students understanding and participation using ULearn: dynamics case

In this paper, ULearn (University of Surrey learning on-line) and e-learning techniques are used to enhance the students’ understanding and participation in Dynamics modules for an undergraduate programme in the School of Engineering, University of Surrey. The Dynamics modules are taught at Levels 2 and 3 and contain several mechanisms and vibrating systems. The modules consist of several chapters, each of which has its own folder, or content file, in ULearn. In addition to the discussion board and chat room, on-line simulations have been made available and integrated within ULearn. In order to evaluate students’ understanding and encourage the student participation in ULearn, timed on-line assessments, in the form of multiple-choice quizzes, have been designed. The feedback of the students has indicated that the use of ULearn was of great help to improve their understanding of the Dynamics modules.     

Using rubrics in student self-assessment: student perceptions in the English as a foreign language writing context

The instructional value of rubrics for promoting student learning and aiding teacher feedback to student performance has been extensively researched in th educational literature. There is, nonetheless, a dearth of studies on students’ rubric use in second/foreign language contexts, and fewer studies have investigated the factors affecting rubrics’ effectiveness for promoting student learning. The paper reports a classroom-based inquiry into students’ perceptions of rubric use in self-assessment in English as a Foreign Language context and the factors moderating its effectiveness. Eighty students at a Chinese university participated in the study. The data collected included their reflective journals and six case study informants’ retrospective interviews. Results showed that the rubric was perceived as useful for fostering the students’ self-regulation by guiding them through the stages of goal-setting, planning, self-monitoring and self-reflection. Both within-rubric and rubric-user factors were identified as affecting the rubric’s effectiveness in student self-assessment. The findings are discussed with reference to the design features of rubrics. Implications are drawn for formative rubric use in student self-assessment.     

Perceptions of university assessment and feedback among post-16 school pupils

The transition between school and university can be problematic for students. Understanding students’ expectations about the system they are entering is crucial in effecting a smooth transition. The school system involves small classes, often with teachers who know their students well. In contrast, university involves large class sizes and a degree of anonymity for the student. In the UK, National Student Survey responses for universities show that students are generally less happy about feedback relative to most other issues. The current study investigates school students’ expectations about assessment and feedback practices at university. Students were surveyed across Great Britain in 2006 and 2013. There were some significantly different responses from students between the two years of study in how coursework would be handled, but there were also many areas of consistency, demonstrating a clear pattern of expectation. For example, in both years of study 80% of students expected personal verbal feedback on their university assignments. This study discusses how student expectations may be based on their school experiences, rather than considering the reality of the university system they are entering. Misconceptions may be affecting students’ responses to surveys on assessment and feedback.     

利益相关者视角下高校学生评教现状调查研究

教学质量是高等院校的命脉,学生评教是改进教学、提高教学质量的重要手段。选取G高校进行案例研究,从利益相关者角度探讨影响学生评教有效性的因素,发现教师、学生、教学行政管理者三方存在参与率过低、评价真实客观性不足、结果利用不合理等问题,并基于此从利益相关者三方提出针对性改进策略。     

Evaluate to improve: useful approaches to student evaluation

Many teachers in higher education use feedback from students to evaluate their teaching, but only some use these evaluations to improve their teaching. One important factor that makes the difference is the teacher’s approach to their evaluations. In this article, we identify some useful approaches for improving teaching. We conducted focus groups with award-winning university teachers who use student evaluations to improve their teaching, and we identified how they approach their evaluation data. We found that these teachers take a reflective approach, aiming for constant improvement, and see their evaluation data as formative feedback, useful for improving learning outcomes for their students. We summarise this as the improvement approach, and we offer it for other teachers to emulate. We argue that if teachers take this reflective, formative, student-centred approach, they can also use student evaluations to improve their teaching, and this approach should be fostered by institutions to encourage more teachers to use student evaluations to improve their teaching.     

Facilitating student learning in distance education: a case study on the development and implementation of a multifaceted feedback system

This paper reports on a case study conducted in an American university investigating the role of feedback within a distance education environment. Based on data gathered from online and hybrid undergraduate students in a teacher education program and supported by existing research, we describe how we support online learners by implementing a feedback system that incorporates multi-draft formative assessments and various feedback strategies. We describe these strategies (i.e. explicit feedback directions and feedback surveys) as well as data from formative assessments to demonstrate the impact of clear expectations and feedback on student performance in distance education. We present recommendations for online feedback and propose a feedback model for further study.     

Guiding reinvention of conventional tools of mathematical logic: students’ reasoning about mathematical disjunctions

Motivated by the observation that formal logic answers questions students have not yet asked, we conducted exploratory teaching experiments with undergraduate students intended to guide their reinvention of truth-functional definitions for basic logical connectives. We intend to reframe the relationship between reasoning and logic by showing how logic emerges within students’ mathematical activity. This activity entails reflecting on and systematizing their own language use across diverse semantic content. We present categories of students’ untrained strategies for assessing the truth-values for mathematical disjunctions. Students’ initial reasoning heavily reflected content-specific and pragmatic factors in ways inconsistent with the norms and conventions of mathematical logic. Despite this, all student groups reinvented the standard truth-functional definition for simple disjunctions. We demonstrate how this learning depended upon particular forms of reasoning about logic. We also contrast various strategies for assessing quantified disjunctions and their different affordances in students’ mathematical activity.     

‘What drives students’ affective commitment towards their university?’

How can universities build ongoing, committed relationships with students, able to withstand the financial and emotional challenges of studying in higher education? The research proposes that students’ ongoing attachment to their university, based on positive feelings towards the university, is an important aspect of the student experience. This ongoing attachment is conceptualised here as students’ affective commitment towards their institution. Using an online survey-method and a research sample comprising undergraduate students studying in the UK, this research identifies three factors which drive students’ affective commitment towards their institution. These factors include students’ affective commitment towards academics and students’ calculative commitment towards the institution; factors which draw from the relational literature. A third factor, commitment balance, was developed within this research. Commitment balance occurs when a student’s commitment to their university is perceived to be reciprocated by the university’s commitment to the student. The study found that commitment balance was the most important driver of students’ ongoing attachment to their institution. The paper proposes that commitment balance is a key idea to consider within relational studies generally, but has a particular relevance in the higher education context for understanding the student experience. Commitment balance reflects the pulse of reciprocity which energises relational exchanges between students and institution. The findings of this research reinforce how critically important it is for universities and academics to build relationships with students. The desired outcome is to enhance the student experience, create positive attachment between students and university and ultimately improve student retention.     

The impact of student feedback on teaching in higher education

Receiving feedback from students has become a normal part of life for university teachers worldwide. This puts pressure on them from several sides and may be an influential factor that leads them to tailor their teaching to students’ preferences. The aim of this study was to investigate teachers’ perceptions of student feedback and how it affects their teaching choices. A survey was sent out to all teachers at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The study found that student feedback is perceived positively by university teachers, has a large impact on their teaching and helps improve courses. Student feedback pushes teaching in the direction of fewer lectures and more tutorials, seminars and case studies. Teachers receiving negative student feedback experience more negative feelings related to the feedback, and are also more likely to introduce unjustified changes to their teaching in order to please students. These teachers also tend to have less teaching experience. However, a very large majority of teachers have a high level of professional pride and integrity and do not make (as they perceive them) unjustified changes to their teaching.     

A scaffolded approach to Discussion Board use for formative assessment of academic writing skills

Mastery of academic writing skills remains one of the greatest challenges for university students, especially in the first year. Amongst the reasons offered for the challenges are lack of clarity about the university’s expectations and low levels of teacher feedback on work submitted, a failure to engage, and low levels of contact with teaching staff and other students. Academic staff are challenged by increased class numbers and increased student diversity in classes and university policies to adopt a wide range of information technologies into teaching modes. In this paper, we offer one attempt at addressing these three important contemporary academic challenges: use of information technology to provide timely feedback through formative assessment to help students with a range of abilities to acquire the academic writing skills necessary to succeed in higher education. Early indications show that students find this form of formative assessment very useful. They value the timely and focused feedback from the lecturer and are developing collegiality as they learn from each others’ writing and feedback. We believe that this strategy is sustainable and can be adapted to facilitate academic and social integration for students across many disciplines.     

The role of feedback in e-assessments for engineering education

The aim of this investigation was to compare two differently designed e-assessments (formative assessments) which supported the same engineering courses for two academic years. In this investigation two group of students participated (Control Group: CG and Experimental Group: EG). The teachers followed exactly the same teaching approach using the same learning tools (apart from the e-assessments) in the same learning environment. The first group of students (CG) had the opportunity to timely receive grades along with the correct answers, when they submitted the e-assessments on-line. The teachers themselves designed these e-assessments in BlackBoard Vista© learning environment. The second group of students (EG) had the opportunity to receive feedback each on their own individual responses having unlimited attempts to participate in the e-assessments designed by PhD students. We will demonstrate that the addition of individual feedback and the unlimited attempts increased the EG group performance at the end of the courses (summative assessment) in comparison to the CG group of students.     

Can we meet their expectations? Experiences and perceptions of feedback in first year undergraduate students

Student ratings of satisfaction with feedback are consistently lower than other teaching and learning elements within the UK higher education sector. However, reasons for this dissatisfaction are often unclear to teaching staff, who believe their students are receiving timely, extensive and informative feedback. This study explores possible explanations for this mismatch between staff and students’ perceptions of feedback quality. One hundred and sixty-six first year undergraduate students completed a questionnaire detailing their experiences of feedback on coursework before and throughout their first year at university. Results indicate that whilst procedural elements of feedback (timeliness and legibility) are considered satisfactory, past experiences (pre-university) may influence student expectations of feedback. Some students had a severe, negative emotional response to the feedback provided and few students engaged in self-help (independent learning) behaviours to improve their performance following feedback. We consider how changes in feedback practices could improve students’ use of, and satisfaction with, their feedback.     

Individual assignments and academic dishonesty — Exploring the learning Conundrum

A survey of university business professors¹ focused on their use of individual assignments in courses and their views on cheating and its impact on student learning. Based on responses from 456 professors (37% response rate) from Ontario, Canada. it was concluded that most facult² believe that individual assignments are effective learning tools and that cheating on these assignments is a serious offence. They believe that cheating occurs widely, but continue to use these assessments, with some alterations, to ensure that students obtain learning benefits. The survey findings varied across disciplines and tenure status. A framework is proposed to explain the faculty perspective and the outcomes that professors experience. The adjustments they make to individual assignments are influenced by multiple factors that are internal (university policies and regulations) and external (internet usage) to the university. The discussion centres on the three stakeholders — faculty, students and administration — the need for culture change, and the role of honor codes in controlling cheating and supporting a learning environment.     

Once good teaching,always good teaching? The differential stability of student perceptions of teaching quality

In many countries, students are asked about their perceptions of teaching in order to make decisions about the further development of teaching practices on the basis of this feedback. The stability of this measurement of teaching quality is a prerequisite for the ability to generalize the results to other teaching situations. The present study aims to expand the extant empirical body of knowledge on the effects of situational factors on the stability of students’ perceptions of teaching quality. Therefore, we investigate whether the degree of stability is moderated by three situational factors: time between assessments, subjects taught by teachers, and students’ grade levels. To this end, we analyzed data from a web-based student feedback system. The study involved 497 teachers, each of whom conducted two student surveys. We examined the differential stability of student perceptions of 16 teaching constructs that were operationalized as latent correlations between aggregated student perceptions of the same teacher’s teaching. Testing metric invariance indicated that student ratings provided measures of teaching constructs that were invariant across time, subjects, and grade levels. Stability was moderated to some extent by grade level but not by subjects taught nor time spacing between surveys. The results provide evidence of the extent to which situational factors may affect the stability of student perceptions of teaching constructs. The generalizability of the students’ feedback results to other teaching situations is discussed.     

A review of the characteristics of intermediate assessment and their relationship with student grades

In-course assessment, such as midterms, quizzes or presentations, is often an integral part of higher education courses. These so-called intermediate assessments influence students’ final grades. The current review investigates which characteristics of intermediate assessment relate to these grades. In total, 88 articles were reviewed that examined the relationship between intermediate assessment and student grades. Four main characteristics were identified: the use of feedback, whether the assessment is mandatory, who is the assessor, and the reward students get for participating. Results indicate that corrective feedback leads to the most positive results, but elaborate feedback may benefit lower achieving groups. No difference in results was found for mandatory versus voluntary intermediate assessments. Peer assessment seemed to be beneficial, and rewarding students with course credit improves grades more than other rewards. Three scenarios are presented on how teachers can combine the different characteristics to optimise their intermediate assessment.     

Using organisational theory in the promotion of evaluation — a case study

This paper discusses the use of organisational theory in a research and development project at the University of Queensland. It focuses on the introduction of a student evaluation of teaching scheme for feedback purpose and for use in annual appraisals, as well as for tenure and promotion decisions. It is a case study of planned change introduced into a traditional university within the framework of the literature on change, university systems and the academic profession. The paper demonstrates that organisational theory helps (a) to clarify the context and the conditions which facilitate introduction of change in a traditional university, and (b) to evaluate strategies to initiate and implement change. When the student evaluation of teaching system was developed and first promoted in Semester 2, 1982, 37 staff members had their teaching evaluated. Since then it has grown to a regular evaluation of teaching in over 300 class sessions, with 150–200 staff members participating each semester, and about 15,000 students returning questionnaires. This makes it a unique scheme in Australian universities.     

Zwischen Schule und Universität: Argumentation in der Mathematik

Several studies show that university students in Germany still have problems in reasoning mathematically although this already should be fostered at high school since the implementation of standards for school mathematics. Mathematical argumentation is a core competence and highly important, especially in academic mathematics. To foster mathematical argumentation at the beginning of university studies, competence models are needed which give more detailed insights in the skills that are necessary for reasoning. As mathematical argumentation is a complex process, especially at the higher secondary level or at university, many little steps are needed to complete a competence model for argumentation at the secondary–tertiary transition gradually. A possible step can be to initially identify several aspects of mathematical argumentation competence that influence the reasoning quality. The empirical basis for identifying those aspects is a cross-sectional study with 439 engineering students who participate in a transition course in mathematics. We address the following questions: (1) how is the quality of student’s reasoning? (2) Which kind of arguments do students use? (3) What resources do students who reasoned correctly use for solving the problems? (4) Does the content of the tasks play an important role? The results show a great influence of the content on the reasoning quality, especially if the content is abstract or concrete. Argumentation quality of students decreases with an increasing level of abstraction of the content. Furthermore, the results reveal that students often use routines for solving the problems. That indicates that procedural approaches still play an important role in school mathematics. If procedures could be used for solving the tasks, students are more successful. Competence models for mathematical argumentation at the beginning of the tertiary level should, therefore, include these factors.