Negin Mirriahi

Generating actionable predictive models of academic performance

The pervasive collection of data has opened the possibility for educational institutions to use analytics methods to improve the quality of the student experience. However, the adoption of these methods faces multiple challenges particularly at the course level where instructors and students would derive the most benefit from the use of analytics and predictive models. The challenge lies in the knowledge gap between how the data is captured, processed and used to derive models of student behavior, and the subsequent interpretation and the decision to deploy pedagogical actions and interventions by instructors. Simply put, the provision of learning analytics alone has not necessarily led to changing teaching practices. In order to support pedagogical change and aid interpretation, this paper proposes a model that can enable instructors to readily identify subpopulations of students to provide specific support actions. The approach was applied to a first year course with a large number of students. The resulting model classifies students according to their predicted exam scores, based on indicators directly derived from the learning design.

Using learning analytics to scale the provision of personalised feedback

There is little debate regarding the importance of student feedback for improving the learning process. However, there remain significant workload barriers for instructors that impede their capacity to provide timely and meaningful feedback. The increasing role technology is playing in the education space may provide novel solutions to this impediment. As students interact with the various learning technologies in their course of study, they create digital traces that can be captured and analysed. These digital traces form the new kind of data that are frequently used in learning analytics to develop actionable recommendations that can support student learning. This paper explores the use of such analytics to address the challenges impeding the capacity of instructors to provide personalised feedback at scale. The case study reported in the paper showed how the approach was associated with a positive impact on student perception of feedback quality and on academic achievement. The study was conducted with first year undergraduate engineering students enrolled in a computer systems course with a blended learning design across three consecutive years (N2013 = 290, N2014 = 316 and N2015 = 415).

Design, Deployment and Evaluation of a Flipped Learning First-Year Engineering Course

This chapter focuses on the design of a flipped learning experience and, in particular, focuses on the types of activities and their scheduling. The problem can be described as how to stratify the type of activities and how they are distributed in time such that students are provided a gradual and engaging approach to achieve the learning outcomes. The flipped learning design model described in this section has been deployed in a first-year engineering course on computer systems at a higher education institution. In the remainder of the chapter, we assume that students with respect to a topic need to traverse the levels of the revised Bloom’s taxonomy starting with acquiring basic knowledge about a concept and then making a transition to the point where they can evaluate or create artefacts within that area.

Video and learning: a systematic review (2007--2017)

Video materials have become an integral part of university learning and teaching practice. While empirical research concerning the use of videos for educational purposes has increased, the literature lacks an overview of the specific effects of videos on diverse learning outcomes. To address such a gap, this paper presents preliminary results of a large-scale systematic review of peer-reviewed empirical studies published from 2007-2017. The study synthesizes the trends observed through the analysis of 178 papers selected from the screening of 2531 abstracts. The findings summarize the effects of manipulating video presentation, content and tasks on learning outcomes, such as recall, transfer, academic achievement, among others. The study points out the gap between large-scale analysis of fine-grained data on video interaction and experimental findings reliant on established psychological instruments. Narrowing this gap is suggested as the future direction for the research on video-based learning.

Effects of instructional conditions and experience on student reflection: a video annotation study

ABSTRACT This article reports on the findings of a study that investigated the effects of instructional conditions and prior experience on students’ self-reflection. The study was conducted with the use of a video annotation tool that was used by undergraduate performing arts students to reflect on their video-recorded performances. The study shows a consistent positive effect of previous experience with the video annotation tool for engagement with reflection. Graded instructional conditions with feedback had a positive effect on increasing higher order reflections particularly for students with prior experience with the video annotation tool for reflective purposes. The finding suggests that when including reflection in the curriculum, it is important to consider introducing it at a program or degree level rather than individual courses in order to provide an opportunity for students to gain experience with reflection and any particular tool that is used (e.g., a video annotation tool). Furthermore, reflective tasks should be scaffolded into the curriculum with ample opportunity for formative feedback and summative assessment in order to encourage higher order thinking and foster students’ metacognitive awareness and monitoring for increased goal-setting and acknowledgement of the motive or effect of their observed behavior.

The standards for academics’ standards-based assessment practices

Abstract The use of standards-based assessment (SBA) has gained prominence in higher education due to a wide range of research evidence that supports its effectiveness in improving learning and teaching. Although the concept is widely used in academic discourse and practice, it has multiple interpretations which have led to diverse assessment practices to the extent that some of these depart from the principles of SBA. To help build a common understanding of what constitutes SBA practices, we explored the construct of academic SBA practices using both theoretical and empirical approaches. We developed a tool, based on the principles of SBA emerging from practices noted in the literature and identified from focus groups. We used factor analysis to extract the dimensions of the construct and to establish empirical evidence for the utilisation of the tool using a data set of 410 academics who engaged in self-assessment. Results showed that a six-factor model is the most parsimonious among other models. We used these dimensions to develop a framework for describing academic SBA practices. The use of the framework and tool has critical implications for curriculum design, professional practice and development, and policy articulation.

Meeting the challenge of providing flexible learning opportunities: Considerations for technology adoption amongst academic staff | Relever le défi de fournir des occasions d’apprentissage flexibles : considérations pour l’adoption de la technologie

This paper reports on a subset of findings from a larger study investigating resistance from academic staff to the integration of technology with on-campus foreign language teaching at one North American higher education institution. The study revealed that the factors influencing technology adoption paralleled Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model’s tenets of perceived usefulness and ease of use. Further, this study supports Lai and Savage’s (2013) assertion of a lack of attention to the pedagogical affordances of technology when adoption decisions are made by instructors, thus we highlight the need for higher education leaders to determine strategies promoting awareness of the benefits technology-enabled teaching and learning can bring to advance educationally-rich flexible learning opportunities.