Margaret I. Brown

Increasing interactivity in lectures using an electronic voting system

An overview of the experience of the opening two years of an institution-wide project in introducing electronic voting equipment for lectures is presented. Eight different departments and a wide range of group size (up to 300) saw some use. An important aspect of this is the organizational one of addressing the whole institution, rather than a narrower disciplinary base. The mobility of the equipment, the generality of the educational analysis, and the technical support provided contributed to this. Evaluations of each use identified (formatively) the weakest spots and the most common benefits, and also (summatively) showed that learners almost always saw this as providing a net benefit to them. Various empirical indications support the theoretical view that learning benefits depend upon putting the pedagogy (not the technology) at the focus of attention in each use. Perceived benefits tended to increase as lecturers became more experienced in exploiting the approach. The most promising pedagogical approaches appear to be Interactive Engagement (launching peer discussions), and Contingent Teaching ‐ designing sessions not as fixed scripts but to zero in on using diagnostic questions on the points that the particular audience most needs on this occasion.

Integrative Evaluation: An Emerging Role for Classroom Studies of CAL.

Abstract This paper reviews the work of a team over two and a half years whose remit has been to “evaluate” a diverse range of CAL—computer assisted learning—in use in a university setting. It gives an overview of the teams current method, including some of the instruments most often used, and describes some of the painful lessons from early attempts. It then offers a critical discussion of what the essential features of the method are, and of what such studies are and are not good for. One of the main conclusions, with hindsight, is that its main benefit is as integrative evaluation: to help teachers make better use of the CAL by adjusting how it is used, rather than by changing the software or informing purchasing decisions.

Enthusing and informing potential computer science students and their teachers

School curricula contain little direct Computer Science (CS) content, and pupil surveys confirm that pupils have little idea what CS is. A range of initiatives have been introduced by universities to address this problem, and so attract more CS students. This paper presents the Computer Science Inside... project, one such initiative, the primary goals of which are to provide materials for use in secondary school classrooms, and to motivate and prepare the teachers to deliver them. The materials are principally workshops, to be conducted away from machinery and which bring out key CS concepts underpinning ubiquitous IT products such as the mobile phone or internet. All materials are available on the web, to encourage delivery widely by academics, students or teachers. Our evaluation has shown the approach to be broadly successful, and has also highlighted directions for future work.

The pervasiveness of evolution in GRUMPS software

This paper describes the evolution of the design and implementation of a distributed run‐time system that itself is designed to support the evolution of the topology and implementation of an executing, distributed system. The three different versions of the run‐time architecture that have been designed and implemented are presented, together with how each architecture addresses the problems of topological and functional evolution. In addition, the reasons for the rapid evolution of the design and implementation of the architecture are also described.

Measuring learning resource use

Abstract Contact time is only part of a students learning, especially in higher education, and teachers and lab classes are only two of the resources students draw upon. Despite this, there is a prevalence of studies which appear to be evaluating a piece of courseware in isolation. Learning gains from a CAL package are important, but since acquisition and retention of knowledge is really what is ultimately important and will depend on other learning experiences in the course, an additional question in any learning situation therefore is: what resources is a student using? And, following up on that, which are most useful, are some better than others, or do they complement each other in essential ways? This paper describes the design and application of the Resource Questionnaire, the instrument we are developing in an attempt to gather information on the learning resources used by students. The resources asked about may include not only lectures, tutorials and courseware, but books, handouts, notes and discussions with other students. Some preliminary results are described and the importance of this information to teaching staff in assessing and increasing the value of the resources to students by ensuring their effective integration into a course, is discussed.

Using integrated care pathways to improve patient care

The use of integrated care pathways (ICPs) is increasingly being recognised as a method of Improving the quality and effectiveness of patient care. The valuable Information that can be derived from these tools can also help to meet the demands of the current clinical governance agenda.