scholarly journals Graphical enhancements of the Virtual Programming Lab

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidan Mooney ◽  
Emlyn Hegart Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Computer Code ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Automatic Assessment ◽  
Large Classes ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Graphical Feedback ◽  
Automated Feedback ◽  
User Friendly

It is generally recognised that providing consistent, meaningful written feedback is not an easy task, especially when dealing with large classes. Feedback does needs to be effective, meaning it has to be appropriate and timely and needs to be individual, where possible. Automated feedback within Computer Science has been around since the 1960’s with the main goals in relation to computer programming being to implement an automatic assessment tool to provide consistent feedback and to alleviate examiners' workloads. The Virtual Programming Lab, a plugin for the Virtual Learning Environment Moodle, is one such tool that allows for Automated Feedback on computer code. This paper presents enhancements to the Virtual Programming that have been developed to make interacting with the tool more user-friendly and provide more graphical feedback to teachers. The enhancements developed provide in-depth graphical feedback on assessment grades within a class and also teacher focused graphical views which provide more in-depth analysis of assessment submissions. Discussed feedback shows that the enhancements developed were all positively received with feedback highlighting the benefits of each.

scholarly journals How automated feedback from a digital mathematics textbook affects primary students’ conceptual development: two case studies

ZDM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Rezat
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Conceptual Development ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Mathematics Textbooks ◽  
School Students ◽  
Mathematics Textbook ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Probability Task ◽  
Automated Feedback

AbstractOne of the most prevalent features of digital mathematics textbooks, compared to traditional ones, is the provision of automated feedback on students’ solutions. Since feedback is regarded as an important factor that influences learning, this is often seen as an affordance of digital mathematics textbooks. While there is a large body of mainly quantitative research on the effectiveness of feedback in general, very little is known about how feedback actually affects students’ individual content specific learning processes and conceptual development. A theoretical framework based on Rabardel’s theory of the instrument and Vergnaud’s theory of conceptual fields is developed to study qualitatively how feedback actually functions in the learning process. This framework was applied in a case study of two elementary school students’ learning processes when working on a probability task from a German 3rd grade digital textbook. The analysis allowed detailed reconstruction of how students made sense of the information provided by the feedback and adjusted their behavior accordingly. This in-depth analysis unveiled that feedback does not necessarily foster conceptual development in the desired way, and a correct solution does not always coincide with conceptual understanding. The results point to some obstacles that students face when working individually on tasks from digital mathematics textbooks with automated feedback, and indicate that feedback needs to be developed in design-based research cycles in order to yield the desired effects.

LUU CHECKER: A Web-based Tool to Incorporate Emerging LUs in the SWAT Model

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 723-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurdeep Singh ◽  
Dharmendra Saraswat ◽  
Naresh Pai ◽  
Benjamin Hancock
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Hydrologic Response Unit ◽  
User Friendly

Abstract. Standard practice of setting up Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) involves use of a single land use (LU) layer under the assumption that no change takes place in LU condition irrespective of the length of simulation period. This assumption leads to erroneous conclusions about efficacy of management practices in those watersheds where land use changes (LUCs) (e.g. agriculture to urban, forest to agriculture etc.) occur during the simulation period. To overcome this limitation, we have developed a user-friendly, web-based tool named LUU Checker that helps create a composite LU layer by integrating multiple years of LU layers available in watersheds of interest. The results show that the use of composite LU layer for hydrologic response unit (HRU) delineation in 2474-km2 L’Anguile River Watershed in Arkansas was able to capture changed LU at subbasin level by using LU data available in the year 1999 and 2006, respectively. The web-based tool is applicable for large size watersheds and is accessible to multiple users from anywhere in the world. Keywords: Land use, Web-based tool, SWAT, LUU Checker.

scholarly journals Assessing Urban Quality of Life: Developing the Criteria for Saudi Cities

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamal Al-Qawasmi ◽  
Muhammad Saeed ◽  
Omar S. Asfour ◽  
Adel S. Aldosary
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Urban Quality Of Life ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Urban Quality

Urban quality of life (QOL) is a complex and multidimensional concept. A wide range of urban QOL assessment tools has been developed worldwide to measure and monitor the quality of urban life taking into account the particular conditions of cities/regions and the needs of their residents. This study aims to develop an urban QOL assessment tool appropriate for the context of Saudi Arabia (SA). For this purpose, this study developed and used a structured approach that consists of an in-depth analysis of 21 urban QOL assessment tools in use worldwide, combined with focus group analysis and feedback from a panel of experts. The results revealed that there is a lack of consensus among the existing tools regarding the usage of QOL indicators and domains, and that the majority of the tools demonstrate a lack of proper coverage of QOL subdomains. The results also show wide variations in the number of indicators used and that most of the examined tools are using objective measurable indicators. This study has identified 67 indicators distributed across 13 domains that constitute the core criteria of the proposed QOL assessment tool. The selected indicators and domains cover all the attributes of urban QOL and are evaluated by experts as important criteria to assess/measure QOL. Moreover, the results demonstrate the advantage of the developed framework and comprehensive list of criteria (CLC) as a structured and efficient approach to design better QOL assessment tools.

Methylphenidate Effect in Children With ADHD Can Be Measured by an Ecologically Valid Continuous Performance Test Embedded in Virtual Reality

CNS Spectrums ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yehuda Pollak ◽  
Hanan Barhoum Shomaly ◽  
Patrice L. Weiss ◽  
Albert A. Rizzo ◽  
Varda Gross-Tsur
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Similar Degree ◽  
Continuous Performance ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Children With Adhd ◽  
Feedback Questionnaire ◽  
User Friendly

ABSTRACTBackground: Continuous performance tasks (CPTs) embedded in a virtual reality (VR) classroom environment have been shown to be a sensitive and user-friendly assessment tool to detect cognitive deficits related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The aim of the current study was to compare the performance of children with ADHD on a VR-CPT while on and off treatment with methylphenidate (MPH) and to compare the VR-CPT to a cgrrently used CPT, Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA).Methods:Twenty-seven children with ADHD underwent the VR-CPT, the same CPT without VR (no VR-CPT), and theTOVA, 1 hour after the. ingestion of either placebo or 0.3 mg/kg MPH, in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design. Immediately following CPT, subjects described their subjective experiences on the Short Feedback Questionnaire.Results: MPH reduced omission errors to a greater extent on the VR-CPT compared to the no VR-CPT and the TOVA, and decreased other CPT measures on all types of CPT to a similar degree. Children rated the VR-CPT as more enjoyable compared to the other types of CPT.Conclusions: It is concluded that the VR-CPT is a sensitive and user-friendly assessment tool in measuring the response to MPH in children with ADHD.

Students' Perceptions About the Impact of Using Padlet on Class Engagement

2021 ◽  
pp. 1919-1939
Author(s):  
Nahla Helmy Nadeem
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Written Feedback ◽  
Perceived Effectiveness ◽  
Student Collaboration ◽  
Multidimensional Construct ◽  
Positive Assessment ◽  
Major Shortcoming ◽  
The Impact

Student engagement is a multidimensional construct that includes four distinct, though interrelated, aspects: behavioral, emotional, agentive, and cognitive engagement. The present study investigates students' perceptions about the impact of Padlet as a learning and assessment tool on the four aspects of class engagement. Padlet is a virtual wall that allows students to interact and contribute to class discussions and at the same time provides teachers with feedback on the learning process. The exploratory study was conducted on 27 female students in a 3-credit sociolinguistics course in which Padlet was used as a learning and assessment tool. At the end of the course, a survey and a personal interview were used to get students' feedback on the effectiveness of Padlet through addressing various aspects of their perceived engagement. The results showed that using Padlet enhanced student engagement, fostered active learning and offered positive assessment experiences. Its perceived effectiveness was mainly due to Padlet features that supported student collaboration, promoted students' agency and helped in creating a positive learning atmosphere. Its major shortcoming as an assessment tool was the lack of written feedback to students. However, teachers could use a combination of online and written assessments to compensate for this shortcoming.

A Conceptual Framework for Enterprise Interoperability

2015 ◽  
pp. 652-662
Author(s):  
Wided Guédria
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Maturity Model ◽  
Automatic Assessment ◽  
Maturity Models ◽  
The Past ◽  
Enterprise Interoperability ◽  
Significant Research ◽  
Corrective Actions ◽  
Research Challenge

The obligation to become more competitive and effective in providing better products and services requires enterprises to transform from traditional businesses into networked businesses. One of the challenges faced by a network of enterprises is the development of interoperability between its members. Transformations in this context are usually driven by Enterprise Interoperability (EI) problems that may be faced. In order to quickly overcome these problems, enterprises need characterizing and assessing interoperability to be prepared to establish means for collaboration and initiate corrective actions before potential interoperability problems occur and then be obliged to make unprepared transformations that may be costly and induce unmanageable issues. This has become a significant research challenge over the past few years and maturity models have been developed in response to this challenge. In this paper we propose to extend a maturity model based on an ontological formalization of the interoperability domain. This will allow diagnosing interoperability problems when assessing EI and having a conceptual framework as basis for an automatic assessment tool.

scholarly journals Health status, care needs, and assessment for beneficiaries with or without dementia in a public long-term care insurance pilot in Guangzhou, China

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jialan Wu ◽  
Siman Chen ◽  
Huangliang Wen ◽  
Yayan Yi ◽  
Xiaoyan Liao
Keyword(s):  
Barthel Index ◽  
Rasch Analysis ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Long Term Care Insurance

Abstract Background Chinese government launched a pilot study on public long-term care insurance (LTCI) recently. Guangzhou is one of the fifteen pilot cities, officially started providing LTCI in August 2017. An in-depth analysis of experimental data from the pilot city may provide suggestions for developing a fair and effective LTCI system. This study aimed to evaluate the LTCI pilot by exploring the characteristics and care needs of claimants, and performance of the assessment tool. Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study in which claims data between July 2018 and March 2019 in the Guangzhou pilot was analyzed. LTCI claimants during the study period were included. The care needs were determined based on claimants’ physical function assessed by the Barthel Index and their medical conditions. Rasch analysis was used to explore the performance of the Barthel Index. Results Among 4810 claimants included, 4582 (95.3%) obtained LTCI benefits. Of these beneficiaries, 4357 (95.1%) were ≧ 60 years old, and 791 (17.3%) had dementia. Among 228 (4.7%) unsuccessful claimants, 22 (0.5%) had dementia. The prevalence of stroke was high in beneficiaries with (38.1%) or without dementia (56.6%), as well as in unsuccessful claimants with (40.9%) or without dementia (52.4%). Beneficiaries without dementia needed more support for basic activities of daily living and nursing care than those with dementia, while beneficiaries with dementia were more likely to be institutionalized. Five (22.7%) unsuccessful claimants with dementia and 48 (23.3%) unsuccessful claimants without dementia were disabled in at least two basic self-care activities. Regarding Barthel Index, Rasch analysis showed threshold disordering in “mobility” and “climbing stairs”, and the narrow interval was observed between all the adjacent categories of the ten items (< 1.4 logits). Conclusions Stroke and dementia were two common reasons for needing long-term care in LTCI claimants. The Barthel Index is not suitable for assessing and dividing LTCI claimants, because of inappropriate items and narrow category responses. A comprehensive assessment and grading system is required, together with needs-led care services. The eligibility should be expanded gradually based on balance finance solutions.

The use of websites by Mediterranean tourist ports

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Benevolo ◽  
Riccardo Spinelli
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Tool ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
Expected Information ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Potential Customers

Purpose This paper aims to explore the use of websites by tourist ports to assess whether they support ports in communicating their image and provide information and services to actual and potential customers. Design/methodology/approach An analysis of 129 tourist ports websites from ten Mediterranean countries was conducted using the 2QCV3Q model, a multi-purpose qualitative evaluation tool based on experts’ judgments. Findings The findings show that tourist ports’ websites are typically beautiful and well-managed, give ports a clear image and link them with the local territory; however, sample websites are only partially user-friendly, offer limited room for interaction and fail to provide all the expected information and services to the visitors. Originality/value This research provides an unprecedented picture of the use and quality of websites by tourist ports located in the Mediterranean Sea and offers a robust and exhaustive assessment tool that might be of interest to researchers. The tool might also help managers of tourist ports to improve their websites by making them more business- and customer-oriented.

scholarly journals Reviews and syntheses: Revisiting the boron systematics of aragonite and their application to coral calcification

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 2819-2834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. DeCarlo ◽  
Michael Holcomb ◽  
Malcolm T. McCulloch
Keyword(s):  
Partition Coefficient ◽  
Isotopic Fractionation ◽  
Computer Code ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Coral Skeleton ◽  
Carbonate Chemistry ◽  
Carbonate System ◽  
Coral Skeletons ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Propagation Of Uncertainties

Abstract. The isotopic and elemental systematics of boron in aragonitic coral skeletons have recently been developed as a proxy for the carbonate chemistry of the coral extracellular calcifying fluid. With knowledge of the boron isotopic fractionation in seawater and the B∕Ca partition coefficient (KD) between aragonite and seawater, measurements of coral skeleton δ11B and B∕Ca can potentially constrain the full carbonate system. Two sets of abiogenic aragonite precipitation experiments designed to quantify KD have recently made possible the application of this proxy system. However, while different KD formulations have been proposed, there has not yet been a comprehensive analysis that considers both experimental datasets and explores the implications for interpreting coral skeletons. Here, we evaluate four potential KD formulations: three previously presented in the literature and one newly developed. We assess how well each formulation reconstructs the known fluid carbonate chemistry from the abiogenic experiments, and we evaluate the implications for deriving the carbonate chemistry of coral calcifying fluid. Three of the KD formulations performed similarly when applied to abiogenic aragonites precipitated from seawater and to coral skeletons. Critically, we find that some uncertainty remains in understanding the mechanism of boron elemental partitioning between aragonite and seawater, and addressing this question should be a target of additional abiogenic precipitation experiments. Despite this, boron systematics can already be applied to quantify the coral calcifying fluid carbonate system, although uncertainties associated with the proxy system should be carefully considered for each application. Finally, we present a user-friendly computer code that calculates coral calcifying fluid carbonate chemistry, including propagation of uncertainties, given inputs of boron systematics measured in coral skeleton.

Comparative Evaluation of Combustion Codes for Low-Btu Gas Applications

1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tah-Teh Yang ◽  
Ajay K. Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Combustion Process ◽  
Computer Code ◽  
Physical Models ◽  
Gas Combustion ◽  
Combustion Modeling ◽  
Coal Gas ◽  
Combustion Models ◽  
Efficient Combustion ◽  
User Friendly

Four computer codes (PHOENICS, PCGC, FLUENT and INTERN) representing a spectrum of existing combustion modeling capabilities were evaluated for low-Btu gas applications. In particular, the objective was to identify computer code(s) that can be used effectively for predictions of (a) the flow field to yield efficient combustion, (b) the temperature field to ensure structural integrity and (c) species concentrations to meet environmental emission standards in a gas turbine combustor operating on low-Btu coal gas. Detailed information on physical models, assumptions, limitations and operational features of various codes was obtained through a series of computational runs of increasing complexity and grouped as (a) experimental validation, (b) code comparison and (c) application to coal gas combustion. INTERN is not suitable for the present application since it has been tailored to model combustion process of premixed hydrocarbon fuels. FLUENT is easy to use and has detailed combustion models (in Version 3), however, it is not favored here because the user is unable to alter, modify or change the existing model(s). While PCGC-2 has the most comprehensive models for combustion, it is not user friendly and is inherently limited to axisymmetric geometry. PCGC-3 is expected to overcome these drawbacks. Built in combustion models in PHOENICS are similar to those in FLUENT. However, the user can implement advanced models on PHOENICS leading to a flexible and powerful combustion code.

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