Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching - National University

More documents

Recommendations

Info

discussion in such courses is slow; every entry, be it a question or an answer, takes time to both create and understand. One more important function of Open Forum is peer support. There are always some students who at the very beginning feel frustrated with the amount of work, or start a mathematics course after a very long break, or received the textbook with a delay. Certainly, the instructor must reassure such students, but if this is done by classmates, such encouragement is even more valuable. Assessment In the current MTH 210 course, students take a midterm and a final exam. Overall, almost threefourths of the questions involve calculations. Grading student work just by the final answers is not efficient, since a student may make an error in the last step. Hence, the instructor must see the whole work. Not everyone is able to enter all details of the solution into the answer box. Therefore, we ask each student to submit the detailed work by fax, e-mail, or dropbox. This method gives the instructor the opportunity of tracing the whole process of solving a problem and give a partial credit to the student. Of course, that takes significantly more time than grading multiple-choice answers (which can be made automatic), but it is much more fair and balanced. This approach also makes it easy for the instructor to explain to a student what was wrong in his/her answers. The time allowed for an exam is another sensitive issue. It must be sufficient for an average student to answer all questions, but not excessively long. It may be good to collect the information about the time spent by each student on the current exam, find the mean and standard deviation σ and assign the time interval equal to + σ for the next class. We don’t set the system to kick out the student after the time expired. Instead, we deduct 1% of the exam score for every 10 minutes of overtime. This is definitely not much, yet it gives the desired effect: the students have to watch the clock, but it does not make them too nervous. Authentication Since the instructor never meets the students in person, the issue of assessment becomes one of the most acute in online education. It is true that the instructor may develop a certain idea about a student’s personality just by the style of his/her emails, the type of questions, the quality of homework and threaded discussion postings, and so on, but we still have to rely on the principle “one who wants to learn will learn.” The means of remotely controlling the testing process were discussed, in particular, by Mitry and Smith (2009). However, all of those methods require additional video equipment that is not easily available at this time. Therefore, we need to focus on what is possible now. An online student is free to use any available materials, including the notes, completed homework, and even the textbook. A student who is not properly prepared may resort to some kinds of illicit assistance, such as using a tutor’s help during the exam and getting information from classmates. The first of these cases requires someone who is familiar with the material and can help promptly. We assume that a real professional tutor will never agree to do so. A person who took the same course some time ago and remembers something is of little use. The same applies to inexperienced tutors who need to read the textbook before solving a problem. Using help from 189
such persons is hardly better than calling for a friend’s help in the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire This narrows significantly a pool of possible candidates for synchronous assistance. The second case is much more probable and therefore deserves more attention to prevent it. Such prevention could be achieved by individualizing the exam assignments. Thus, each student may be given an individual code, with each assigned problem being dependent on this code. Such a measure, although efficient, would, however, make understanding the problem difficult for some students. Also, it would make grading much more complicated for the instructor. Having two or three versions of the exam and changing them during the exam day could be more realistic. Such change would not affect the exams that were already opened. Unfortunately, the eCollege platform does not allow quick replacement of an exam. It can be only modified question by question, which is possible but takes some time. Actually, it is possible to create a bank of tests, but each of them needs to be assigned an equal number of grade points, which will cause confusion in the gradebook. Class Mean GPA as a Measure of Efficiency This integral characteristic is an important tool of assessing both the class performance and the instructor’s grading policy. However, this measure must be used with caution, as we can see from Table 1. This table presents the grade list for a class of 25 students. The total scores are listed in Column 2, and the letter grades are entered in Column 3. Column 4 contains the numerical equivalents of the letter grades. The average of Column 2 is 80.1, which would result in a “B” grade for an individual student. The average of Column 4 is 2.4, which, in turn, is equivalent to a “C” for and individual. This disparity comes, evidently, from the differences of scales. (Indeed, the commonly used grade correlation table contains the classes 90 – 100, 80 – 89, 70 – 79, 60 – 69, and 0 – 59; the last class being much wider than the rest of them.) Nevertheless, such disparity, if any, results in a grade discrepancy not exceeding one level (e.g., B vs. C etc.). Another kind of discrepancy has a purely formal nature. If a poorly performing student withdraws from the class, his/her record will be removed from the grade list. If such a student remains on the roster and gets a “D” or an “F,” this grade must be taken into account, and then the average score or GPA drops. Thus, if we remove the F’s (Rows 1 and 2) from the grade list, the averages of Columns 2 and 4 will rise to 82.7 and 2.7 respectively. That means the students who withdraw from a class before it is too late may affect the average GPA and even cause apparent grade inflation. In our opinion, the average GPA should be calculated with a “0” for each “W” in the grade roster. Using Microsoft Excel and Graphing Calculators A modern statistics course must include work with large data sets. This is not difficult with a popular and widely known application like Microsoft Excel, which possesses the necessary statistical functions. It is possible to assign small projects, at least in descriptive statistics. Perhaps, constructing confidence intervals may be feasible too if time allows. (The issue of time is critical in a short course.) Assignments of such kind would be easy to individualize in order to prevent plagiarism. 190
Page 2 and 3:
Journal of Research in Innovative T
Page 4 and 5:
Table of Contents Editor’s Column
Page 6 and 7:
Editor’s Column National Universi
Page 8 and 9:
training-based method for integrati
Page 10 and 11:
The Editorial Board invites the rea
Page 12 and 13:
The Influence of Social Worlds on E
Page 14 and 15:
experience in a strong group settin
Page 16 and 17:
Table 1 Example Scenario of a Burea
Page 18 and 19:
hierarchy ensures a social position
Page 20 and 21:
(see Figure 5). Each member is affo
Page 22 and 23:
through four types of instructional
Page 24 and 25:
Hierarchic (high grid, strong Group
Page 26 and 27:
Figure 10. Didactic Task Structure
Page 28 and 29:
Stansberry, S., & Harris, E. (2005)
Page 30 and 31:
Utilizing current research-based co
Page 32 and 33:
teachers. The instructor kept a mas
Page 34 and 35:
References Coburn, C. E. (2001). Co
Page 36 and 37:
Organizing for Instruction Carefull
Page 38 and 39:
Accelerated Learning 33
Page 40 and 41:
the learning process but rather to
Page 42 and 43:
Csikszentmihalyi (1982) has written
Page 44 and 45:
term (intersession) gets its name b
Page 46 and 47:
Some Important Issues Scott and Con
Page 48 and 49:
esponsibilities). A higher percenta
Page 50 and 51:
them in such a way that the likelih
Page 52 and 53:
makes a valuable contribution to ou
Page 54 and 55:
North American Association of Summe
Page 56 and 57:
E-learning 51
Page 58 and 59:
Academic Learning Today Academic in
Page 60 and 61:
In the original publication by the
Page 62 and 63:
• Individual (1) — Group (2) co
Page 64 and 65:
Challenges and Opportunities From t
Page 66 and 67:
About the Authors Cynthia (Cindy) L
Page 68 and 69:
AGILE TEACHING: A CASE STUDY OF USI
Page 70 and 71:
the scope-by-name feature of Ruby e
Page 72 and 73:
need to deal with. Students learned
Page 74 and 75:
experiment with different options f
Page 76 and 77:
the students evaluate the optimum s
Page 78 and 79:
Using Bibliotherapy as a Tool for C
Page 80 and 81:
different clients and their present
Page 82 and 83:
supervisees with a brief synopsis o
Page 84 and 85:
Stick Figure, by Lori Gottlieb As t
Page 86 and 87:
psychological awareness to encourag
Page 88 and 89:
on the Internet. To keep the classr
Page 90 and 91:
The third portion of the discussion
Page 92 and 93:
Henry, S. (2005). A different appro
Page 94 and 95:
elementary-age students. Linked wit
Page 96 and 97:
considered in multicultural literat
Page 98 and 99:
In Finding One, the conclusion was
Page 100 and 101:
Stephanie: “I learned that some p
Page 102 and 103:
importance in society and in school
Page 104 and 105:
published in the United States. Ret
Page 106 and 107:
Reading Practices in Elementary Sch
Page 108 and 109:
groups of students reading by apply
Page 110 and 111:
Table 2 Participant-Reported Teachi
Page 112 and 113:
Table 5A Teachers’ Reading Task P
Page 114 and 115:
Because electronic texts are increa
Page 116 and 117:
Conclusion As teachers work to impr
Page 118 and 119:
Bilingual Education and Second Lang
Page 120 and 121:
successful in hiring enough qualifi
Page 122 and 123:
Five Innovative Strategies That Wor
Page 124 and 125:
The third strategy is “Determinin
Page 126 and 127:
the categories, synthesized and def
Page 128 and 129:
Fereshteh, M. H. (1995). Multicultu
Page 130 and 131:
Can Balanced Bilingualism Be Achiev
Page 132 and 133:
As may be seen from this discussion
Page 134 and 135:
Alternatives to Current Methodologi
Page 136 and 137:
education when students are isolate
Page 138 and 139:
Conclusion SL learning must be a tw
Page 140 and 141:
Language as Tool for a Global Educa
Page 142 and 143:
encouraging passive learning. Such
Page 144 and 145: Similarly, their actions or what go
Page 146 and 147: should therefore not be glued to th
Page 148 and 149: Supplementary Reading Since there i
Page 150 and 151: Bruce, M. G., Podemski, R. S., & An
Page 152 and 153: • Sentence combination (using con
Page 154 and 155: The Motivational and Attitudinal Ch
Page 156 and 157: Other researchers have challenged t
Page 158 and 159: education classes were taught in Ru
Page 160 and 161: Participants also described how the
Page 162 and 163: Implications and Suggestions for Fu
Page 164 and 165: National University Carlsbad, CA Em
Page 166 and 167: Assessment and Evaluation 161
Page 168 and 169: affordance of opportunities for sel
Page 170 and 171: An examination of the peer-comment
Page 172 and 173: language used in the description an
Page 174 and 175: promotes self-discovery (Saulnier e
Page 176 and 177: Appendix A Sample Language from an
Page 178 and 179: Student Evaluations of Courses and
Page 180 and 181: that there is a consistent positive
Page 182 and 183: (teaching) for all classes (11 item
Page 184 and 185: Figure 1. The Nonlinear Relationshi
Page 186 and 187: About the Authors Nataliya Serdyuko
Page 188 and 189: Best Practices 183
Page 190 and 191: The Textbook Elementary Statistics
Page 192 and 193: If the mean number of visits was as
Page 196 and 197: Table 1. A grade list for a class o
Page 198 and 199: Sloboda, B. W. (2005). Improving th
Page 200 and 201: The Journal of Research in Innovati
Page 202: About the Author In the end of your
show all

Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching - National University

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?