Stephen W. Draper

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.

Catalytic assessment: understanding how MCQs and EVS can foster deep learning

One technology for education whose adoption is currently expanding rapidly in UK higher education is that of electronic voting systems (EVS). As with all educational technology, whether learning benefits are achieved depends not on the technology but on whether an improved teaching method is introduced with it. EVS inherently relies on the multiple-choice question (MCQ) format, which many feel is associated with the lowest kind of learning of disconnected facts. This paper, however, discusses several ways in which teaching with MCQs, and so with EVS, has transcended this apparent disadvantage, has based itself on deep learning in the sense of focusing on learning relationships between items rather than on recalling disconnected true–false items, and so has achieved substantial learning advantages. Six possible learning designs based on MCQs are discussed, and a new function for (e-)assessment is identified, namely catalytic assessment, where the purpose of test questions is to trigger subsequent deep learning without direct teaching input. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysing fun as a candidate software requirement

Analysis of concepts related to “fun” is used to suggest the main areas where fun may be important to software design. The issue is important as many analyses and design methods fail to allow for designs aimed at user enjoyment, even though computer games are now a major industry. The main cases seem to be either where enjoyment is the chief aim (requirement) of the design, or where learning is important. The phenomena of “flow” experiences are also important here, and raise the issue of designing for desirable cognitive modes of interaction, as well as for desired end results. However the relationship of learning and fun, while clearly important, is complicated.

Software Engineering for User Interfaces

The discipline of software engineering can be extended in a natural way to deal with the issues raised by a systematic approach to the design of human-machine interfaces. Two main points are made: that the user should be treated as part of the system being designed, and that projects should be organized to take account of the current (small) state of a priori knowledge about how to design interfaces.

The use of gradient and dual space in line-drawing interpretation

This paper reviews the application of gradient space and dual space in programs that interpret line-drawings and examines whether they can provide a basis for a fully adequate program. Mackworths program Poly is analyzed at length. Counterexamples show first that the procedure must be generalized from gradient to dual space, and then that constraints in the form of inequalities as well as equations must be handled which necessitates a radical re-design. A proof that Poly itself is valid under perspective as well as orthographic projection although its derivation in terms of gradient space is not, further indicates that gradient (or dual) space is not the important element in Mackworths approach. Other ways of using dual space by Kanade and Huffman are discussed but they do not convincingly rebut the conclusion that dual space is peripheral to the design of a competent program. Finally the conclusion that the plane equation approach derived from the developments described, while theoretically adequate, is awkward to use because it fails to offer intuitive clarity, is supported by contrasting it with the alternative method of sidedness reasoning.

Niche-based success in CAL

In reflecting on which pieces of computer-assisted learning (CAL) stand out as strikingly successful, this paper argues that there are no generalizations about what features of technology or software type makes a piece of CAL successful, but that on the contrary the most definite successes seem to come from a close fit between a piece of courseware and its situation of use that is specific to that niche. These are usually cases where a teacher analysed what was particularly weak in an existing situation and thought of how technology could be used to address that bottleneck. Often the technology is not particularly innovative, but it is a close match to the needs of that niche. This paper develops this argument by reference to a number of pieces of software which have little in common with each other, but all of which have proved to promote learning powerfully.

What are learners actually regulating when given feedback

e-Assessment cannot benefit learners, and so education, unless it supports them in doing something differently in future. What, however, are learners trying to do better? This paper adopts a perspective in which learners simultaneously self-regulate multiple variables that are relevant to learning, and develops a theoretical argument that a key issue is the ambiguity of feedback events (such as a failed task or a poor mark) as to which variable should be adjusted. A common tacit assumption is that the relevant loop is about technical expertise, but in reality, students must and do also adjust effort, learning methods and course choices. Two methods for helping learners by resolving this ambiguity are discussed: telling learners directly which interpretation is relevant, and structuring learning activities to focus on one variable. Which loops are most important to learners generally shifts in the transition from school to university, implying that the role of feedback also changes. e-Assessment needs a major rethink to address these needs, and to understand why feedback is so often apparently ignored by students. Conversely, attending to all these loops would be to open new dialogues with learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design of a computer‐augmented curriculum for mechanics

This paper describes the design and development of a set of teaching materials for the teaching of a topic on mechanics (as part of the research carried out for the ‘Conceptual Change in Science’ project). The ‘curriculum’ comprises a series of interactive computer simulations of force and motion, a number of closely related practical activities and associated written materials. The aim of the materials was to promote change in learners’ understandings of physical phenomena, by first making them aware of the limitations of their current conceptions, and then by enabling learners to develop and use a conceptual framework which both fits with their experience and is internally consistent.

A classroom intervention using a computer‐augmented curriculum for mechanics

A set of teaching materials was developed for the teaching of mechanics, as part of the research carried out for the ‘Conceptual Change in Science’ project. These incorporated a series of interactive computer simulations, associated written materials and a number of practical activities; their aim was to promote change in learners’ conceptual understandings of natural physical phenomena. The materials were described in the preceding issue of this journal (Hennessy et al. 1993). This paper presents the results of an empirical evaluation undertaken over a seven‐week period with a class of 29 12‐ to 13‐year‐olds. The intervention was found to promote conceptual change, in that the children displayed more sophisticated reasoning at immediate and delayed post‐tests than their counterparts in comparison classes. Specifically, explanations asserting that motion implies a force in the same direction and those excluding friction as a force opposing motion were significantly less prevalent. An interesting phenomeno...