Patrick E. Connolly

Using Peer Feedback to Enhance the Quality of Student Online Postings: An Exploratory Study

This study investigates the impact of peer feedback used as an instructional strategy to increase the quality of students’ online postings. While peer feedback has been demonstrated to support students’ learning in traditional classrooms, little is known about its efficacy in online discussions. To address this gap, we examined students’ perceptions of the value of giving and receiving peer feedback, specifically related to the quality of discussion postings in an online course. In addition, we investigated the impact of that feedback by comparing the quality of students’ postings, based on Bloom’s taxonomy, from pre-course to post-course. Results suggest that the quality of students’ postings was maintained through the use of peer feedback despite students’ preferences for instructor feedback. Students noted that peer feedback can be valuable and, more importantly, described how giving peer feedback not only reinforced their learning but enabled them to achieve higher understanding.

Virtual reality-based spatial skills assessment and its role in computer graphics education

One element of using contemporary computer graphics tools is the creation of accurate 3D geometry for a variety of purposes. As part of developing effective instructional experiences for students engaged in such activities, computer graphics educators must take into account a persons spatial abilities and skills. Literature has shown these abilities are widely considered to be a significant predictor of the probability of a persons success in computer graphics-related professions. Typical spatial skills assessments examine such abilities as mental rotations, spatial visualization, and spatial perception all of which are involved in the creation of 3D computer graphics. However, most of these assessment instruments are paper-based, and the nature of the human ability being measured is such that the paper-and-pencil format currently used has no mapping to the target construct domain - namely 3D computer graphics in the real world.This lack of authenticity puts into serious question not only the perceived validity (face validity) of the test, but also the purposes for which test scores from the assessment instruments are put to use (construct validity). One such instrument is The Mental Cutting Test (MCT) which is commonly used to measure spatial visualization skills relative to a cutting plane passing through an object, which are critical in the use of many contemporary computer graphics tools. In an effort to minimize validity issues, the cognitive psychology and computer graphics communities have begun developing virtual reality-based versions of mental rotations instruments to examine various constructs. But a mental rotations assessment does not provide a complete coverage of a persons spatial abilities. This paper outlines the relationship to spatial abilities and computer graphics education and a methodology for pilot testing a working prototype of a virtual reality-based version of a spatial abilities assessment instrument which uses the MCT as a model.

Virtual Reality & Immersive Technology in Education

Virtual reality, also known as VR, is an exciting but ill-defined field of discovery. The question of how technological advances in this field will impact education is difficult to answer at present with any degree of certainty, but is one that must be considered by educational researchers, teachers, and administrators. This position paper presents the foundational definitions and positions of several investigators in this realm, along with thoughts on difficulties and complex issues that currently hinder the application of virtual reality in educational settings. It is recommended that the excitement that VR generates be leveraged into applications research in order to validate both the effectiveness of VR in education and encourage further development of the technology.

Visual 3D computer graphic design-simulation in technology education

Ideally, freshman level students entering technology and engineering programs should possess an innate or intuitive understanding of the relationship between interacting physical objects and the mathematical and graphical fundamentals that describe that interaction. Developing and refining an understanding of that relationship is an important foundational preparation for students preparing for occupations in these fields. Historically, the development of that process has been accomplished predominantly through numerical mathematical means that often necessitate presenting important principles to students as numerical or nonvisual abstractions. The objective of this paper is to describe initial efforts to develop highly graphical visual, spatial, audile, motion-based methods which address a vital emerging goal in applied computer graphics instruction; problem solving through 3D computer graphic design-simulation.