A Study of the Effects of Teaching Avatars on Students' Learning of Surveying Mathematics

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Nicoletta Adamo-Villani ◽  
Hazar Nicholas Dib
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Formative Evaluation ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Summative Evaluation ◽  
Learning Gains ◽  
Mathematical Competence ◽  
Evaluation Formative ◽  
Animated Characters ◽  
Math Concepts

The paper reports a research study aimed at investigating the appeal and pedagogical efficacy of animated teaching avatars. Specifically, the goal of the study was to determine whether animated characters could be effective and engaging teachers in the context of undergraduate surveying mathematics. The study included two forms of evaluation: formative and summative. Findings from the formative evaluation with forty-four undergraduate students show that three animated lectures delivered by a teaching avatar that speaks, gestures and points to a virtual board were perceived as engaging and useful for learning surveying mathematics concepts and procedures. Results of the summative evaluation with fifty-two undergraduate students show that watching the animated avatar lectures led to an increase in subjects' mathematical competence by 31%. The study also compared the animated avatar lectures to interactive 2D visualizations illustrating equivalent surveying math concepts. Findings show that watching the teaching avatar lectures led to significantly higher learning gains.

A JOURNEY TO MEASURE STUDENT COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT BENEFITS: EVIDENCE FROM AUSTRALIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Ellen Chung ◽  
Hamish B Coates
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Factor Loading ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Student Community ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽  
Final Questionnaire ◽  
Civic Skills ◽  
Career Skills

Community engagement is a phenomenon that has received increasing attention among institutions of higher learning in recent years, and students engaging with communities are generally seen as beneficial. Given this, surprisingly little is known about this form of engagement in Australian higher education, let alone methods to measure its benefits on students. This study discussed the development of the Student Community Engagement Benefits Questionnaire (SCEBS), a questionnaire that measures the perceptions of community engagement benefits among undergraduate students in Australia. The final questionnaire has 32 items allocated to four benefit scales: (1) Career skills, (2) Diversity skills, (3) Interpersonal skills, (4) Civic skills. Most benefit items had a factor loading of atleast 0.40 with its own scale. The results of the factor analysis revealed that the four scales accounted for 53% of the total variance. The alpha reliability coefficient for the four scales ranged from 0.79 to 0.91. Based on these findings, the Student Community Engagement Benefits Scale (SCEBS) is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used in the field of education. Undergraduate students also reported statistically significant changes in the four dimensions after participating in community engagement activities.

scholarly journals Comparing formative and summative simulation-based assessment in undergraduate nursing students: nursing competency acquisition and clinical simulation satisfaction

BMC Nursing ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Arrogante ◽  
Gracia María González-Romero ◽  
Eva María López-Torre ◽  
Laura Carrión-García ◽  
Alberto Polo
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Students ◽  
Formative Evaluation ◽  
Clinical Performance ◽  
Summative Evaluation ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Undergraduate Nursing Students ◽  
Clinical Simulation ◽  
Undergraduate Nursing ◽  
Validated Questionnaire ◽  
Evaluation Strategies

Abstract Background Formative and summative evaluation are widely employed in simulated-based assessment. The aims of our study were to evaluate the acquisition of nursing competencies through clinical simulation in undergraduate nursing students and to compare their satisfaction with this methodology using these two evaluation strategies. Methods Two hundred eighteen undergraduate nursing students participated in a cross-sectional study, using a mixed-method. MAES© (self-learning methodology in simulated environments) sessions were developed to assess students by formative evaluation. Objective Structured Clinical Examination sessions were conducted to assess students by summative evaluation. Simulated scenarios recreated clinical cases of critical patients. Students´ performance in all simulated scenarios were assessed using checklists. A validated questionnaire was used to evaluate satisfaction with clinical simulation. Quantitative data were analysed using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 24.0 software, whereas qualitative data were analysed using the ATLAS-ti version 8.0 software. Results Most nursing students showed adequate clinical competence. Satisfaction with clinical simulation was higher when students were assessed using formative evaluation. The main students’ complaints with summative evaluation were related to reduced time for performing simulated scenarios and increased anxiety during their clinical performance. Conclusion The best solution to reduce students’ complaints with summative evaluation is to orient them to the simulated environment. It should be recommended to combine both evaluation strategies in simulated-based assessment, providing students feedback in summative evaluation, as well as evaluating their achievement of learning outcomes in formative evaluation.

scholarly journals Comparing formative and summative simulation-based assessment in undergraduate nursing students: nursing competency acquisition and clinical simulation satisfaction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Arrogante ◽  
Gracia María González-Romero ◽  
Eva María López-Torre ◽  
Laura Carrión-García ◽  
Alberto Polo
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Students ◽  
Formative Evaluation ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Summative Evaluation ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Undergraduate Nursing Students ◽  
Clinical Simulation ◽  
Undergraduate Nursing ◽  
Validated Questionnaire ◽  
Critical Patients

Abstract BackgroundFormative and summative evaluation are widely employed in simulated-based assessment. The aims of our study were to evaluate the acquisition of nursing competencies through clinical simulation in undergraduate nursing students and to compare their satisfaction with this methodology using these two evaluation strategies.Methods218 undergraduate nursing students participated in a cross-sectional study, using a mixed-method. MAES© (self-learning methodology in simulated environments) sessions were developed to assess students by formative evaluation. Objective Structured Clinical Examination sessions were conducted to assess students by summative evaluation. Simulated scenarios recreated clinical cases of critical patients. Students´ performance in all simulated scenarios were assessed using checklists. A validated questionnaire was used to evaluate satisfaction with clinical simulation. Quantitative data were analysed using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 24.0 software, whereas qualitative data were analysed using the ATLAS-ti version 8.0 software.ResultsMost nursing students showed adequate clinical competence. Satisfaction with clinical simulation was higher when students were assessed using formative evaluation. The main students’ complaints with summative evaluation were related to reduced time for performing simulated scenarios and increased anxiety during their clinical performance.ConclusionThe best solution to reduce students’ complaints with summative evaluation is to orient them to the simulated environment. It should be recommended to combine both evaluation strategies in simulated-based assessment, providing students feedback in summative evaluation, as well as evaluating their achievement of learning outcomes in formative evaluation.

scholarly journals Prevalence of Psychoactive Substance Use Among Undergraduate Students at Chirunga College, Malawi.

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 53-68
Author(s):  
John Kuyokwa ◽  
Symon Ernest Chiziwa ◽  
Nertha Semphere
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Theory Of Planned Behaviour ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Higher Learning ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Psychoactive Substance ◽  
Psychoactive Substances ◽  
Research Methodologies ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Quantitative Data Analysis

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of use of psychoactive substances among undergraduate students at Chirunga College in Malawi.  The study was guided by Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour. Mixed research methodologies were used, in which both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were employed in data generation and analysis. SPSSv20 and Excel were used in quantitative data analysis and qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The study involved 147 participants and the findings revealed that (34%) of students used psychoactive substances. It recommends that undergraduate students who use psychoactive substances like any other user of these substances, require help. Accordingly, as an institution of higher learning, Chirunga College has to take the necessary steps to address this problem; including introducing counselling and psychotherapy services at the institution

scholarly journals First Person and Second Person Markers as Representatives of a Case in a Verb Form

2021 ◽  
Vol X (3) ◽  
pp. 66-73
Author(s):  
Liliya Makovskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Second Language Writing ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Second Person ◽  
Oral Feedback ◽  
Electronic Feedback ◽  
Language Writing

Feedback has always been considered important in second language writing. Quite recently due to various reasons, electronic feedback has become one of the frequently applied types (Zareekbatani, 2015; Ene & Upton, 2018). The aim of the research study was therefore to identify lecturers’ and students’ views on the use of online comments provided on the second language writing tasks. The data was collected through conducting online semi-structured interviews with undergraduate students and lecturers of one Uzbek university. The findings revealed that a variety of comments given on different aspects of the written assessment tasks in the Google documents and combined with additional oral feedback were effective. The article aims at discussing the detailed findings of the research study and providing possible suggestions for language teachers on the use of electronic feedback in L2 writing.

scholarly journals Letting students decide whether to work in pairs or individually in class

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 174-187
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Araujo Portugal
Keyword(s):  
Group Work ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Learning Preferences ◽  
Classroom Research ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Learning Gains ◽  
Intermediate Students ◽  
Participant Observer ◽  
Pair Work ◽  
Personal Decision

Communicative approaches to language teaching have advocated for the benefits of pair and group work when learning foreign languages. This paper reports an example of classroom research that has been carried out with intermediate students of English, level B1+, focusing on how they prefer to work in class as regards grammar and vocabulary exercises when given the chance to choose. In order to obtain the results for this classroom research study, the students’ teacher becomes a participant observer who records the data throughout the course and collects the data on observation worksheets. Contrary to what it might be expected, the outcomes show that many of the younger students prefer working on their own and then compare and justify their answers with their partners, rather than working in pairs from the very beginning. This is recommended to establish whether this is just specific of these students, or it is something common with other students and teachers have been unaware of it.   Keywords: Classroom research, individual work, learning gains, learning preferences, pair work, personal decision.

Social Media in Promoting HIV/AIDS Prevention Behaviour among Young People in Botswana

2014 ◽  
pp. 264-279
Author(s):  
Tshepo Batane
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young People ◽  
Formative Evaluation ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Aids Prevention ◽  
Discussion Forum ◽  
Summative Evaluation ◽  
Online Forum ◽  
Online Discussion Forum ◽  
Hiv Aids

This chapter explores the effects of social media in influencing the behavior of young people in relation to HIV/AIDS. The platform used for the project is an online discussion forum. The study is a One Group Pretest and Posttest inquiry. Formative evaluation is performed at the beginning of the study to establish participants behaviour, the intervention is introduced, then a summative evaluation is done to find out whether the intervention had any effect on the behaviour of the participants. The findings of the study indicate that there is a significant change in the behaviour of participants in relation to HIV/AIDS due to the use of the online forum. The study recommends that more efforts need to be directed to the use of various technologies that young people have at their disposal in the fight against HIV/AIDS as this can be very economical and effective.

CMS Portfolios for Learning and Evaluation

2011 ◽  
pp. 261-281
Author(s):  
Jon Lanestedt ◽  
Mona Stokke
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Formative Evaluation ◽  
Constructivist Theory ◽  
Summative Evaluation ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Course Management Systems ◽  
Theoretical Rationale ◽  
Group Context ◽  
Final Exams ◽  
Portfolio Approach

In the chapter we discuss how higher education can support learning and evaluation by use of portfolios as an integrated functionality in course management systems (CMS). A theoretical rationale for a portfolio approach in support of deeper learning is provided by a brief outline of relevant aspects of constructivist theory of learning and its process-oriented focus on formative evaluation in a group context, as opposed to the traditional emphasis on summative evaluation in terms of final exams. The use of portfolios as a method to realize such a focus is explained, along with visualisations of an instantiation of the associated CMS functionality.

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