Dieudonné Leclercq

The use of degrees of certainty to evaluate knowledge.

In patients with chronic diseases education should improve knowledge about the disease and increase certainty in knowledge. We present here a technique to measure changes in certainty after an educational intervention. For this purpose, before and after a course, patients answer a questionnaire in which answers are accompanied by an estimate of the degree of certainty. Answers are then assigned to areas of knowledge defined a priori: mastered (certainty > or = 90%, correctness > or = 90%), hazardous (certainty > or = 90%, correctness < or = 50%), uncertain (certainty < or = 50%, correctness > or = 90%) and residual. Finally differences in the distribution of answers among different areas are analysed statistically. Using this technique in a group of patients with type I diabetes who followed a course on insulin use, we found significant changes in the distribution of answers among different areas of knowledge. Thus changes in certainty can be analysed quantitatively and used to evaluate better the effect of therapeutic education.

The Eight Learning Events Model: A Pedagogic Conceptual Tool Supporting Diversification of Learning Methods.

This paper presents the eight Learning Events Model (8LEM), a pedagogical reference framework which was used, in more than 100 online courses, as a starting point for instructional planning. Besides supporting teachers in early stages of the learning design continuum, the paper shows how this learning/teaching model, as a professional development tool, prompts them to diversify the learning methods experienced by students in their courses. A three-pronged rationale about the importance of this diversification with respect to “mathetic” competence development, epistemology and personalization is also submitted to discussion.

Item banking : interactive testing and self-assessment

Assessment has long been recognized as a key feature inlearning efficacy, especially through formative evaluation. Item banking, the storage and classification of test items,is an essential part of systematic assessment. This volume is based on a NATO Advanced Research Workshopheld as part of the Special Programme on AdvancedEducational Technology. The workshop brought togetherscholars from around the world to discuss and criticallyanalyze the issues and problems associated with SubjectiveProbability Measurement (SPM) or the more generic researcharea called self-assessment. Recent advances in computertechnology (expert systems, interactive video disks, andhypermedia) along with the developing sophistication ofself-assessment scoring systems based on SPM made thisconference particularly important and timely. The book is divided into three main parts:- The input: item banking and hypermedia- The process: subjective probabilities- The output: teaching and learning feedbacks. In summary, although SPM is a difficult theoretical conceptfor most educators to comprehend, the sophisticated natureof modern computer systems coupled with comprehensiveformative and summative evaluation and self-assessmentsystems make SPM transparent to the user.

Validity, Reliability, and Acuity of Self-Assessment in Educational Testing

When teachers use confidence marking, they should be aware that confidence estimation and confidence expression are influenced by a series of factors. Some of them have been studied in detail, such as the general human capacity to estimate one’s knowledge (how far can people be sensitive, reliable and valid in appreciating their uncertainty).

Metacognitive Realism: a cognitive style or a learning strategy?

Abstract Learning implies the learners ability to make a series of decisions and, in particular, the capacity to assess the quality and reliability of ones own knowledge incapsu‐lated in the question: “How far do I already know the content I am supposed to learn?” The authors address the following issues: (1) Is realism in metacognition a stable trait in learners?; (2) If not, by what is it influenced?. After a short review of the literature on the topic and the examination of experimental evidence, metacognition is considered as both a style and a strategy. The need for a taxonomy of metacognitive realism is demonstrated in order to clarify the topic and to facilitate applied research.

The TASTE Approach: General Implicit Solutions in Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), Open Books Exams and Interactive Testing

The efficiency of school to efficiently train in higher order cognitive skills is sometimes questioned. Principles and techniques (such as open books exams, implicit questioning, self assessment) have been developed to enhance cognitive vigilance, data processing skills and metacognition. The details of those techniques are provided as well as some results about question characteristics and Student opinions. Further developments are considered and perspectivized with ambitious training and assessment goals.

Hypermedia: Teaching Through Assessment

This paper illustrates in which directions hypermedia could enhance educational assessment. Barriers between learning, teaching and assessment disappear. The autonomy of the learner is increased and, consequently, his/her metacognitive activity. The item bank view is progressively transformed into a learning environment that has to be explored and that helps the learner to explore his/her own learning and assessing strategies.

From Expository Teaching to First e-Learning Course Production: Capture in a 17 Online Course Sample of a Pedagogical Pattern Facilitating Transition

This paper discusses an activity structure, RQAT, mined from a study of 17 on-line courses. It formats this structure as a pedagogical pattern and presents it as an abstraction to support staff development, especially faculty willing to incorporate first online components to enhance face to face course.

POLICIES AND PRACTICE IN THE BELGIUM FRENCH COMMUNITY WITH RESPECT TO COMPUTERS IN EDUCATION

The education authorities in the Belgium French Community have been cautious to avoid waste and wary of prematurely rushing the diffusion of the new information technologies. However, many initiatives have been taken at local levels with recommendations and support from centralized levels. Three types of organizing authorities oversee the educational system of the French Community. The structure of the system and the more general developments in the educational uses of computers are described first. Policy and practices under the specific organizing authorities are then reviewed in turn. All discussion refers only to the period up until 1994.