Using continuous assessment to promote student engagement in a large class

Cole, Jonathan; Spence, Stephen

doi:10.1080/03043797.2012.719002

Cited by 36 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Through the development of our early warning system, we are able to identify an optimal time (week 5-6) in the Practical Statistics' semester to apply an early warning system. Holmes (2015) and Cole and Spence (2012) have suggested that continuous assessment encourages student engagement. As previously mentioned, Practical Statistics was designed to ensure consistent student engagement through having continuous assessment on a weekly basis throughout the course.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting prediction methods for early warning systems at undergraduate level

Howard

Meehan

Parnell

2018

The Internet and Higher Education

107

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In this study, we investigate prediction methods for an early warning system for a large STEM undergraduate course. Recent studies have provided evidence in favour of adopting early warning systems as a means of identifying at-risk students. Many of these early warning systems rely on data from students' engagement with Learning Management Systems (LMSs). Our study examines eight prediction methods, and investigates the optimal time in a course to apply an early warning system. We present findings from a statistics university course which has a large proportion of resources on the LMS Blackboard and weekly continuous assessment. We identify weeks 5-6 of our course (half way through the semester) as an optimal time to implement an early warning system, as it allows time for the students to make changes to their study patterns whilst retaining reasonable prediction accuracy. Using detailed (fine-grained) variables, clustering and our final prediction method of BART (Bayesian Additive Regressive Trees) we are able to predict students' final grade by week 6 based on mean absolute error (MAE) to 6.5 percentage points. We provide our R code for implementation of the prediction methods used in a GitHub repository. arXiv:1612.05735v2 [math.HO]

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting prediction methods for early warning systems at undergraduate level

Howard

Meehan

Parnell

2018

The Internet and Higher Education

107

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“…Therefore, this research questioned the participants to check for differences, focusing on the student and the teacher roles, considering the following: (1) the control of grades; (2) taking the initiative in the classroom; (3) the timely fulfilment of tasks; (4) study in the absence of assessment and (5) the main source of information. Although there are numerous studies showing the importance of assessment for learning and how this influences what students study (Gibbs 2010;Cole and Spence 2012;Myllymäki 2013), it was the assessment, with question 4, that had the highest correlation coefficient, indicating that only students with a small LA most often declare they study more because of assessment. We also found, in the case of questions 2 and 3, statistically significant moderate correlations indicating that more autonomous learners are not as dependent on the teacher in carrying out tasks in the classroom or on the fulfilment of tasks deadlines.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of curricular activities on learner autonomy: the perspective of undergraduate mechanical engineering students

Duarte

Leite

Mouraz

2015

European Journal of Engineering Education

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This study researches how first-year engineering students perceived the influence of curricular activities on their own learning autonomy, measured with an adaptation of the Personal Responsibility Orientation to Self-direction in Learning Scale (PRO-SDLS). Participants were questioned to assess the influence of the teacher's role. The results indicate that learners' characteristics (motivation and self-efficacy) contribute more to learner autonomy (LA) than the teaching-learning transaction (control and initiative), as in the original PRO-SDLS validation. The most autonomous learners presented higher values in all LA components and dimensions, but the differences were greater in motivation and initiative. The participants with higher LA were not as dependent on the teacher, regarding assessment, the completion of classroom tasks and deadlines. Regardless of the degree of autonomy in learning, all participants viewed teachers as the main source of information. Therefore, LA plays an important role in teaching activities planning. Suggestions for adjustments and more flexible learning scenarios are formulated. Keywords: higher education; learner autonomy; curricular activities; teachers' role IntroductionThe promotion of autonomy in learning as a purpose of the educational process is not a new issue, much less in higher education, and the 'development of self-learning skills' is one of the ideals that 'higher education should consider' (Esteves 2010, 52). The Higher Education European Policies, namely the Bologna process, emphasise its importance, in particular through the adoption of a student-centred learning paradigm (Leuven Communiqué 2009), which places the responsibility to actively participate in the definition of their own educational process, on the students. It also highlights 'deep learning and understanding, and increased responsibility and accountability on the part of the student' (Lea, Stephenson, and Troy 2003, 322). In Portugal, higher education institutions waited several years for the legislation framework necessary for the implementation of the Bologna process (Veiga and Amaral 2009). Sin (2012, 401) points to an 'engagement with Bologna that appears to have been a bottom-up process, subsequently complemented by topdown legislation', where 'references to student-centred education and a new teaching paradigm seem to have emerged as an acknowledgement of the academic perception' and 'an opportunity to change teaching approaches, transforming students into independent learners at the centre of the educational process'. This independence in learning that means an ability to take charge of one's own learning was designated by Holec (1979) as 'learner autonomy (LA)'. Other authors (Dam et al. 1990;Little 1991) add to this ability the will to act and choose independently, reinforcing the idea that to act as an autonomous learner, the students must have this ability, but also the will to mobilise it for learning.Even students with a high degree of autonomy can choose to learn in a teacher-centred ins...

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“…A meta-analysis by Bangert-Drowns, Kulik, and Kulik (1991) showed that frequent assessments can motivate students to study more regularly, resulting in reduced cramming and increased final grades. Frequent assessments can also lower anxiety (Fulkerson and Martin 1981), increase self-esteem (Cole and Spence 2012) and promote deep learning (McDowell et al 2011; Carrillo-de-la-Peña and Pérez 2012). There are, however, several aspects that have to be taken into account to fully understand the impact of frequent assessment interventions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ perception of frequent assessments and its relation to motivation and grades in a statistics course: a pilot study

Vaessen

Beemt

Watering

et al. 2016

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education

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This pilot study measures university students' perceptions of graded frequent assessments in an obligatory statistics course using a novel questionnaire. Relations between perceptions of frequent assessments, intrinsic motivation and grades were also investigated. A factor analysis of the questionnaire revealed four factors, which were labelled value, formative function, positive effects and negative effects. The results showed that most students valued graded frequent assessments as a study motivator. A modest number of students experienced positive or negative effects from assessments and grades received. Less than half of the students used the results of frequent assessments in their learning process. The perception of negative effects (lower self-confidence and more stress) negatively mediated the relation between grades and intrinsic motivation. It is argued that communication with students regarding the purpose and benefits of frequent assessments could mitigate these negative effects.

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Using continuous assessment to promote student engagement in a large class

Cited by 36 publications

References 8 publications

Contrasting prediction methods for early warning systems at undergraduate level

Contrasting prediction methods for early warning systems at undergraduate level

The effect of curricular activities on learner autonomy: the perspective of undergraduate mechanical engineering students

Students’ perception of frequent assessments and its relation to motivation and grades in a statistics course: a pilot study

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