The Impact of Modularity and Credit Accumulation on Undergraduate Art and Design Education

Credit Accumulation and modular structures now account for the majority of undergraduate provision in art and design in the UK. This shift away from traditional structures has gained momentum during the past three years and is part of a national move towards credit accumulation and modularity from GCSE through to Masters level work in all subjects. The origins and rationale for these structures are outlined and their advantages are discussed with particular reference to art and design in Higher Education, together with their implications for teaching methods, for student learning, and for assessment. These points are illustrated with examples of new developments in the sector. The author responds to some of the reservations voiced by critics of CATS and Modularity and argues that these structures are more appropriate to the needs and ambitions of students in the 1990s.     

MULTIPLE CHOICE VERSUS TRUE-FALSE: A COMPARISON OF RELIABILITIES AND CONCURRENT VALIDITIES

The purpose of this study was to compare the reliabilities of true-false (TF) and multiple choice (MC) tests and to determine the concurrent validities of both. Two methods, judgmental and discrimination, were devised for objectively converting MC items to TF form. The TF items generated by the two methods from 70-item MC natural science and social studies tests were incorporated in eight final forms which were differentiated by subject matter, conversion method, and item form order. A sample of 1018 nonurban high school students each responded to one of the eight forms. Examinees tried three TF items for every pair of MC items attempted. The TF tests were significantly less reliable than the MC tests but did tend to measure the same thing as the corresponding MC tests.     

A NOTE ON ALLOCATING ITEMS TO SUBTESTS IN MULTIPLE MATRIX SAMPLING AND APPROXIMATING STANDARD ERRORS OF ESTIMATE WITH THE JACKKNIFE

Investigated empirically through post mortem item-examinee sampling were the relative merits of two alternative procedures for allocating items to subtests in multiple matrix sampling and the feasibility of using the jackknife in approximating standard errors of estimate. The results indicate clearly that a partially balanced incomplete block design is preferable to random sampling in allocating items to subtests. The jackknife was found to better approximate standard errors of estimate in the latter item allocation procedure than in the former.     

Personal Computers in Laboratory Teaching of Control

This paper reports on the incorporation of personal computers in the laboratory program at UMIST's Control Systems Centre. Laboratory practice is an integral component of all our control course. The laboratory facilities provide a mechanism for testing and verifying theoretical and design approaches. Incorporating computers in all phases of the laboratory program makes possible the use of current techniques in the analysis and design of realistic control systems. The control systems laboratory at UMIST has been developed with the goal of providing real world analysis and design experience in a laboratory setting. A collection of scale model experiments representing the major categories of industrial control problems has been constructed. These working models are coupled with a standard instrumentation interface and analogue and digital computers to implement control strategies. In all cases, great care has been taken to retain realism and allow the student to concentrate on control issues rather than configuration or programming problems. The primary objective of using personal computers in the control laboratory is to provide an on-line link between the student and the laboratory model. This provides direct ‘hands on’ experience of digital control ideas, interactive digital control experimentation and use of the computer as a multi-function virtual instrument. In addition, the computer is used off-line to simulate model performance as various control strategies are tried. At this point in time, each laboratory model station has been equipped with a personal computer containing A/D and D/A converters, hard and floppy disk, and a real-time clock. The computers are networked to provide access to printing and file storage facilities. Originally the software packages were written primarily in BASIC, and ran on BBC computers. These versions are however in the process of being replaced by PC-based packages written in C. Both the original BASIC and the C-successors have been developed to provide interactive, real-time control of the model using a choice of digital control algorithms. Using the keyboard as a control panel, the student can observe model performance, vary controller parameters, choose display characteristics and record parametric and graphical data. Future developments will expand the choice of available control algorithms and enhance the off-line analysis and design tools.     

Book REVIEWS

Books Reviewed in this Article: Teaching Large Classes in Higher Education. Third World Guide 91/92. PM649 Supporting Primary Mathematics, The Open University. Exploring Statistics with Minitab. Ability, Partial information, Guessing: Statistical Modelling applied to Multiple-choice Tests. Mathematical Statistics. The Crest of the Peacock.     

Linking student evaluations to institutional goals: a change story

For the past 30?years, beginning with the seminal work of Herbert Marsh in Australia and New Zealand, institutions of higher education have developed internal practices and procedures to collect and analyse student evaluations of teaching and learning. However, the question remains: has this development resulted in the achievement of institutional goals that maximise learning across all teaching contexts? As is the case in many other countries, a recent review of Australian national student evaluation data failed to conclude that student evaluations have improved overall teaching. However, these data have made student perceptions of teaching and learning more salient in the minds of tertiary educators. Certainly, teaching staff are aware of the impacts of student evaluations on informed decision-making, such as the continuation or discontinuation of courses, and on their promotion processes. This paper will review student evaluation practices according to criteria used in change theories, such as the transtheoretical change model (TTM). TTM construes organisational change as a process involving progress through a series of five stages: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. This paper will focus on organisational and behavioural outcomes that can be linked to the use of student data. It will recommend strategies for better aligning evaluation results to the stages of change.