scholarly journals USING AN ONLINE MARKING SYSTEM FOR A LARGE CLASS ENVIRONMENT

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. Ostafichuk ◽  
Carol P. Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
Software Tool ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
First Year ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Brief Training ◽  
Class Environment ◽  
Orientation Session ◽  
Time Savings ◽  
Digital Record ◽  
Marking Time

The use of online team marking has the potential to both simplify and expedite the process of marking exams, papers, and other artifacts. An online team marking tool (Crowdmark) has been piloted at UBC in  Mechanical Engineering (125 student midterm) and two common first year introduction to engineering courses (840 student final exam, and 730 student midterm and final exam).Crowdmark, the particular software tool used, printed a unique QR code on each page of each exam and then exams were written by students in a conventional pencil-andpaper fashion. After the exam, papers were digitized and uploaded to the Crowdmark system. Following a brief training and orientation session, all marking took place by teaching assistants through the Crowdmark interface. Overall grader preference was positive, with the majority of graders expressing a strong preference for the Crowdmark system over conventional paper-based grading. In MECH 223, extensive historical data for marking time was available, and a significant reduction in marking time per exam (30%) was observed. This time savings included time saved handling papers and entering grades. Additional benefits were also observed through the use of this system: grades and histograms are available per question in real-time; time and grader tracking data is available; exam regrading is simplified; and there is a digital record of each exam for archiving purposes as well as to prevent issues of students altering papers prior to requesting regrading. Special safeguards had to be put in place due to freedom of information and privacy protection (FOIPP) requirements in British Columbia. We haveobserved a slightly lower cost per graded page with Crowdmark ($0.426/page) compared to a conventional exam ($0.439/page), but this includes outsourcing printing and scanning to an industrial-scale printing company. We consider this essentially cost-neutral, but like Crowdmarkfor all of the other benefits it offers.

scholarly journals To what extent emotion, cognition and behaviour enhance a student’s engagement: A case study on the MAJA teaching approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 147821032110320
Author(s):  
Matt M. Husain
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Cognitive Engagement ◽  
Learning Outcome ◽  
Soft Or ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Student Aspirations ◽  
Class Environment

This empirical article problematises student engagement in today’s higher education system. The objective of this research is to stimulate a student’s behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement. I employed an inclusive, inductive and reflexive approach and used mixed methods for collecting data from 948 volunteer participants. The preliminary findings illustrate that playing soft or lively music for a few minutes before a class as well as contextualising and delivering course content combined with enrolled students’ background, hobbies and preferences can go a long way in stimulating emotional and cognitive engagements. The findings also reveal that offering chair yoga during mid-term and/or final exam periods as well as encouraging students to hydrate can lead to increasing behavioural adjustments and then in attention and engagement. The results are encapsulated in a novel teaching framework, MAJA (meaning fun in Sanskrit) that stands for: (a) music, (b) anonymous class survey, (c) jest, and (d) aliment. The framework illuminates that when students tangibly sense a connection between a safe and comfortable class environment and course content, their participation increases and absenteeism decreases. They also promote student aspirations and accountability that facilitate critical thinking, an imperative learning outcome in higher education.

Automated and Adaptive Geometry Preparation for AR/VR-Applications

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Peter Dammann ◽  
Wolfgang Steger ◽  
Ralph Stelzer
Keyword(s):  
Software Tool ◽  
Product Structure ◽  
Preparation Process ◽  
Data Preparation ◽  
Batch Mode ◽  
Computing Power ◽  
Time Savings ◽  
Automatic Preparation ◽  
Target Platform ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Product visualization in AR/VR applications requires a largely manual process of data preparation. Previous publications focus on error-free triangulation or transformation of product structure data and display attributes for AR/VR applications. This paper focuses on the preparation of the required geometry data. In this context, a significant reduction in effort can be achieved through automation. The steps of geometry preparation are identified and examined with respect to their automation potential. In addition, possible couplings of sub-steps are discussed. Based on these explanations, a structure for the geometry preparation process is proposed. With this structured preparation process it becomes possible to consider the available computing power of the target platform during the geometry preparation. The number of objects to be rendered, the tessellation quality and the level of detail can be controlled by the automated choice of transformation parameters. We present a software tool in which partial steps of the automatic preparation are already implemented. After an analysis of the product structure of a CAD file, the transformation is executed for each component. Functions implemented so far allow, for example, the selection of assemblies and parts based on filter options, the transformation of geometries in batch mode, the removal of certain details and the creation of UV maps. Flexibility, transformation quality and time savings are described and discussed.

scholarly journals Turning chemistry education on its head: Design, experience and evaluation of a learning-centred ‘Modern Chemistry’ subject

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-194
Author(s):  
Ingo Koeper ◽  
◽  
Joe Shapter ◽  
Vanessa North ◽  
Don Houston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
Chemistry Education ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Analytical Techniques ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Initial Assessment ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Final Exam

In science courses in general, but especially in first year chemistry classes, the amount of content that is delivered is often overwhelming and too complex for the student to easily cope with. Students not only have to gain knowledge in a variety of different field, they also have to learn new laboratory skills and analytical techniques. Additionally, there is an issue with more and more information being available to everybody through the internet, while our education often still focusses on delivering that knowledge, rather than exploring ways how students can be guided to understanding and using the knowledge provided. There have been different approaches on how to make ‘dry’ scientific concepts more interesting and how enhance student engagement, ranging from problem-based learning approaches, case studies or flipped classroom models. We have recently turned a fairly classic first year chemistry course on its head. In the new structure, students are gaining knowledge and understanding purely through the completion of a range of challenges. We have removed all lectures, tutorials and the final exam, and all interaction with the student happens in the laboratory. Throughout the semester, students attempt to complete a range of challenges, both theoretical and practical, find relevant information, propose approaches to solving the challenges, and discuss these and subsequent outcomes with academic staff. In order to analyse the design, we have conducted structured interviews with students from 2016-2018. Initial assessment of the data suggests a high level of engagement of the students, paired with a better preparation of students for their subsequent studies. Students enjoyed having the freedom to choose and design their own experiments. Additionally, students improved significantly in non-content related aspects such as timemanagement, organisation, planning and self-learning, with notable impact on their learning in higher years.

I realized what I was doing was not working: the influence of explicit teaching of metacognition on students’ study strategies in a general chemistry I course

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Z. Muteti ◽  
Carolina Zarraga ◽  
Brooke I. Jacob ◽  
Tuli M. Mwarumba ◽  
Dorothy B. Nkhata ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Chemistry ◽  
The United States ◽  
Study Strategies ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Metacognitive Strategies ◽  
First Year ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Explicit Teaching ◽  
The Impact

Many students transitioning from high school to college are faced with challenges of getting acclimated to college life and managing their time and heavy course load that is cognitively demanding. Students planning to major in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs in the United States are mostly required to enroll in general chemistry courses as prerequisites. Unfortunately, these courses are among the STEM gateway courses in which many first-year students struggle to get through, or are weeded out. This is partly due to the use of ineffective study strategies that require more than rote memorization, a common learning approach in high schools. One way to prepare first-year college students for STEM trajectories is by teaching them metacognitive strategies early in their study programs to enable early adoption and sustainability of metacognition knowledge and metacognition regulation skills as they progress to the advanced courses. While a handful of studies have investigated study strategies among students in the general chemistry courses as well as the impact of metacognitive activities on student performance in chemistry, very few in-depth qualitative studies investigating the influence of explicit teaching of metacognition on students’ study strategies have been reported. Using open-ended questionnaires, this unique study investigated general chemistry students’ study strategies that they employed prior to a 50 minute metacognition lesson; strategies they reported to have gained from the instruction; and the influence of the metacognition instruction on students’ study strategies and performance in the final exam. Findings indicated more reported use of rote memorization over higher-order study strategies prior to the metacognition instruction, but more reported gains on higher-order study strategies and fewer strategies related to rote memorization immediately after the metacognition instruction. Furthermore, 67% reported a positive influence of the metacognition instruction on study strategies, with 7% lower DFs in the final exam compared to those who reported ‘no influence’. Findings revealed that most general chemistry students were unaware of effective study strategies; thus, there is a critical need to explicitly teach students in general chemistry courses metacognitive strategies.

scholarly journals “A little flip goes a long way” The impact of a ‘partial’-flipped classroom design on student performance and engagement in a first year undergraduate economics classroom

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Singh
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
Control Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
Classroom Design ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Traditional Lecture ◽  
Traditional Lectures ◽  
Undergraduate Economics ◽  
The Impact

The flipped classroom is gaining prominence as an active learning pedagogy to engage a new generation of students. However, all courses do not lend themselves to a fully flipped design and instructors are often reluctant to flip lectures. In this study, I experimented with a “partial” flipped classroom design in a first-year undergraduate economics course. In this partial flipped format, traditional lectures were substituted with micro-lectures and the remaining class time was devoted to activities like quizzes, group work and student presentations. The full lectures were panopto recorded and put up on the e-learning site, Blackboard. This format enabled me to combine the benefits of a traditional lecture with a flipped classroom design. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the partial flipped classroom format, I compared the final exam scores of students in the partial flipped classroom with those in the control group, which followed a traditional lecture-based approach. The key results from the analysis revealed that students in the partial flipped classroom performed better in the final exams vis-à-vis students in the traditional classroom format. Furthermore, the partial flipped classroom format was associated with lower odds of students failing in the module. This format also resulted in better student engagement, more flexibility and enhanced student-tutor interaction within the classroom.

scholarly journals The Use of an Open-Ended Project to Improve the Student Experience in First Year Programming

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Hulls ◽  
Chris Rennick ◽  
Sanjeev Bedi ◽  
Mary Robinson ◽  
William Melek
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Student Experience ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Introductory Programming ◽  
The University

Prior to 2010, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering students at the University of Waterloo were taught an introductory programming course using C++ in first year. Historically, the emphasis was on learning syntax; practising problem-solving was a distant second priority. In addition, many students were noticeably disengaged in lectures, and the assessments used were not authentic.Starting in 2010, a course project was implemented to address these concerns. The project was immediately well received by students, as evidenced by a noticeable number of students going well beyond the minimum project requirements and the variety of projects implemented. Since the project was introduced, the students have been able to successfully answer less structured final exam questions. The increase in problem-solving and thinking skills more than offsets the reduction in language-specific facts. The logistics, challenges and resources required to implement a project of this scope will be described

Katy Freeway High-Occupancy Vehicle Lane Value Pricing Project, Houston, Texas: Evaluation of Usage

2000 ◽  
Vol 1732 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-41
Author(s):  
Mark Hickman ◽  
Quanta Brown ◽  
Alejandro Miranda
Keyword(s):  
Travel Time ◽  
Travel Behavior ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mode Shift ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Travel Time Savings ◽  
Time Savings ◽  
Time Of Travel ◽  
Value Pricing

Usage of the QuickRide program on the Katy high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane in Houston, Texas, is described. The QuickRide program allows two-person carpools to use the HOV lane for $2.00 during peak periods when the lane is restricted to three or more persons. Use of QuickRide during its first year is described, and an analysis of the demand for the program is presented. QuickRide usage, reported travel behavior, and demographic data are used to analyze user travel patterns, travel time savings, and frequency of use. In the 1-year demonstration, demand averaged slightly over 100 vehicles per day, with more than 60 percent of these vehicles traveling in the morning peak. Participants' average use of QuickRide was only about 0.9 times per week, and very few participants used it more than five times per week. Yet a sampling of travel days indicates that, for the $2.00 fee, the average vehicle saves about 20 min of travel time. Responses to a mail-back survey show a significant mode shift from drive-alone to QuickRide, amounting to more than 50 percent of QuickRide trips. A substantial shift was also seen in the time of travel into the peak hour, totaling about one-third of QuickRide trips. Finally, larger household sizes and higher incomes appear to be good predictors of QuickRide use. Interestingly, previous use of the HOV lane was not a good indicator, either positively or negatively, for the frequency of use of QuickRide. These results suggest that ( a) the total demand for HOV-2 value pricing may be limited in major travel corridors, despite large potential time savings; ( b) substantial shifts in mode and time of travel are possible with HOV-2 value pricing; and ( c) household size and income are good indicators, but HOV lane use is a poor indicator, of the frequency of use of an HOV-2 value pricing program.

Design, Development and Implantation of Self-Assessment Tools in the Subject of Manufacturing Engineering in Engineering Degrees at the University of Malaga

2016 ◽  
Vol 853 ◽  
pp. 24-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
F.J. Trujillo ◽  
M.J. Martín ◽  
F. Martín ◽  
Lorenzo Sevilla
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Methods ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
First Year ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
Weak Points ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Manufacturing Engineering ◽  
The University

At the presented work, the results obtained by the implementation of self-assessment tools in the subject of Manufacturing Engineering are analyzed. This is the first subject that has been taught by the Department of Manufacturing Engineering Processes at the University of Malaga in all new engineering degrees within the EHEA framework. First, weak points related to the criteria, tools and evaluation methods have been identified, which were detected during the first year teaching the subject. In order to improve the academic outcomes, new evaluation methods and additional assessment tools have been developed. For this purpose, ICT based tools have been used to support teaching. Finally, the academic results after its implantation have been compared with those previously obtained. As a result, an increase in the number of students who passed the exams together with an improvement in the average marks has been observed, as well as a reduction in the number of student skipping the final exam.

Improving Students' Exam Performance by Introducing Study Strategies and Goal Setting

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria Manion Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Goal Setting ◽  
Study Strategies ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Exam Performance ◽  
First Year ◽  
Final Exam ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Experimental Section

This study addresses whether learning strategies would improve students' exam performance. Students in 2 sections (N = 65) of Introductory Psychology participated. I introduced students in the experimental section to learning strategies. Students set individual learning goals and recorded their learning related behavior during the first 2 units. Students in the control condition engaged in nonacademic tasks. All students experienced a lesson on learning at the end of Unit 2. First-year students in the control condition obtained significantly lower scores than all other students on the first 2 exams. On the 3rd exam, differences were not significant. On the final exam, the original pattern reemerged.

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