Vivienne Farrell

Capstone project: fair, just and accountable assessment

Fair, just and accountable assessment for the individual student in the capstone project requires establishing criteria beyond the final project output to meet the objectives of the capstone project experience. Current research is limited and requires solutions that are not subjective, enable formative and summative assessment with student input and are not onerous on supervisors and/or students. This paper draws on input from highly experienced academics supervising capstone projects in ICT, critically reviews recent publications pertaining to capstone project assessment and current capstone students opinions. The outcome of this input led to the development, trial and evaluation of a toolkit to assist supervisors in both formative and summative assessment of capstone projects.

Capstone project online assessment tool without the paper work

The capstone project is the culmination of a students academic learning, providing an opportunity to demonstrate and further their knowledge and their organisational, practical, theoretical and communication skills with valuable guidance from industry partners. From the perspective of both the student and the academic, fair, just and accountable assessment is the ideal, however often difficult to achieve. Previous research by the authors presented a paper based toolkit to assist supervisors in both formative and summative assessment of capstone projects that does not focus entirely on the final product. Trials of the toolkit demonstrated that although it provided an excellent measure of individual student contribution and achievement, it required an inordinate amount of work by both parties to be efficient and effective. To alleviate the workload and provide individual and comparative instant feedback, an online version of the TCS System, has been developed and tested by students and staff. This paper reviews and discusses the structure and benefits of the online system and the results of the software testing in relation to educational values.

Courtroom evidence presentation technology: overcoming traditional barriers

The Supreme Court of Victoria is an heritage listed building steeped in tradition and reticent to physical change. The current capability of the courtrooms to exhibit advanced technology derived evidence is substantially inadequate. This paper discusses the negative environmental impact, the inadequacies of courtroom facilities and inconsistencies in comparison to the available evidence and the requirements of jurors and courts in relation to evidence presentation. It also discusses the issues, possibilities and limitations involved in the implementation of an IT solution to the presentation of evidence.

An analysis of courtroom evidence presentation technology requirements and current solutions

With the ever-increasing volumes of evidence being used in todays courts, evidence presentation is an area that may be best modernised in Australian courtrooms through the use of Information Technology to greatly increase efficiency and effectiveness. In this paper we have identified some of the key usability requirements for evidence presentation applications to run on tablet technology. This study analyses three current evidence presentation applications for the iPad for their individual usability qualities, and against the requirements established. The study identified deficiencies in the three applications tested, particularly in the area of document annotation. As a result we propose a number of design principles that will ideally improve the usability of evidence presentation applications for iPads and other tablet technologies. This study will be extended to include different tablet operating systems, and focus on the changes in the design principles that are dependent on available tablet work area size.

Does textual word-of-mouth affect look and feel?

In the field of HCI, website usability and visual appeal have been studied extensively. Participant experience with a website genre influences the use and perception of the website. Word-of-Mouth (WOM), such as user reviews, influences users in hotel, restaurant, movie, and many other e-commerce domains. Thus, a companys or products reputation can alter a consumers behaviour towards that product. Our work aimed to acquire an understanding of the effect of textual WOM on usability and visual appeal. This is a novel approach to the topic. This research was undertaken using an unfamiliar city council website to exclude the influence of ones own past experiences and to allow for greater control of the textual WOM. We found that visual appeal, objective and subjective usability were all influenced by text that established reputations.

IMPROVING LEARNING THROUGH INTERACTIVE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS WITH CONFIDENCE MEASUREMENT

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) offer benefits to both students and educators, however they have been criticized for not offering the ability to test partial knowledge, having limited ability to assess deeper levels of understanding and by nature reward guessing. This research initially discusses and analyses various alternative online MCQ assessment scoring regimes, specifically implemented to eliminate the negative aspects of MCQs. It then compares these previous initiatives to an innovative MCQ with Confidence Measurement (MCQCM), designed and implemented for tertiary level Computer Science students, with the objective of this meta-cognitive approach to assessment is to provide richer formative feedback as a means to improve student learning and enhance the educational experience

Trial by tablet: user evaluation of the digital courtroom

Increasing volumes of paper based evidence documentation and its preparation is creating a growing need for an IT solution in Australian courtrooms. This paper discusses the findings of a study where members of the Australian judiciary, including judges, barristers, lawyers, court administrators, law academics and members of the general public, were introduced to an electronic evidence presentation system in a formal court environment. The purpose of the study was to identify particular needs of the users in order to produce a series of design recommendations for future.

Online assessment: splitting the screen to be seen

The limited viewing space provided by online assessment tools makes it difficult for a student to view supportive graphics, scripts or diagrams where the viewing screen is smaller than the complete question. This paper reports on the user centred design and the application of a bifocal information visualisation technique for the display of graphics of an online multiple choice assessment tool. Traditional online tests require the students to scroll down the viewing page to study a questions supporting graphic or diagram and then scroll up again to insert their response. In many instances, this drastically increased the level of tension in a student, who would lose sight of the graphic when answering the question. Consequently, the increased cognitive load often resulted in errors. We provide a presentation technique that displays the question in readable text with a compressed, distorted vision of the supportive graphic/diagram. This enables students to focus on the graphic when considering their answer while not losing sight of the question itself. Furthermore, it allows the student to toggle freely between a focus on the graphic and the question. Our evaluation of this bifocal display demonstrates a notable decrease in errors being made during transcription of answers, and a decrease in the stress level for students during the test.

The influence of textual and verbal word-of-mouth on website usability and visual appeal

AbstractWord-of-Mouth (WOM) may impact the perception and experience of website usability and visual appeal. This study aimed to highlight the effects of WOM, implemented textually and verbally, on subjective and objective usability and visual appeal in a web environment. This research was spread over three studies and was undertaken using an unfamiliar city council website to exclude the influence of past experiences and to allow for greater control of WOM implementation. The statistical results showed that both visual appeal and objective and subjective usability were influenced via text that established expectations around these and that the results were only more compelling when verbal WOM was added. The result implications show that when the message is simple, such as it usually is in communication on social media and advertising, then it does impact people’s perceptions of website visual appeal and usability, which may impact future intentions.

Trialling the use of Tablets in Australian Courts: The Jury is Still Out...

Australian Courtrooms are presently under pressure to adopt suitable technologies for evidence presentation in the courtrooms. This decision is to alleviate reliance on increasing volumes of paper based evidence documentation, harness the value of streamlining evidence presentation, reduce the time of trials and consequently increase courtroom availability. This paper discusses the findings of two ethnographic studies of court trial simulation activities held in the County Courts of both NSW and Victoria, where members of the Australian judiciary, including judges, barristers, lawyers, court administrators and law academics participated in criminal trial simulations where all of the evidence was presented with the use of tablet technology. This required the professional members of the judiciary to role-play as jury members, plaintiff, judge, the witness and courtroom administration. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate the capability of tablet technologies in the courtroom to the members of the judiciary community while identifying the requirements and wants of the participants, in order to produce a series of design recommendations for future development. It was found that there were substantially more advantages than just paper saving and reduced time produced from the introduction of technology as well as areas of concern for the judiciary.