Digital Commons Network^™

Engaging Students In The Use Of Technologies For Assessment Within Personal Learning Environments (Ples): The Development Of A Framework, David Bolton, Paula M. Mildenhall, Kwong Sim, Lynnette Lounsbury, Maria T. Northcote

Lynnette Lounsbury

Higher education students use a wide range of information and communication technologies for personal and study purposes, collectively known as a Personal Learning Environment (PLE). The ways in which students use technologies to prepare and complete assessment tasks, however, has not been researched as much as their general use of technology. This paper reports on the process adopted to develop a research-informed framework to engage higher education students in the use and evaluation of technologies for assessment purposes within their PLEs. The method used to construct the framework is presented alongside recommendations for how the framework may be used by …

Research-Informed Guidelines For The Development Of Adaptively-Released Assessment Feedback (Araf) Strategies In Higher Education, Lindsay Morton, Alexandra Johnson, Anthony Williams, Maria T. Northcote

Maria Northcote

Assessment feedback has the potential to significantly impact on learning; this can be in the form of quantitative or qualitative feedback, or both. While assessment feedback is intended to provide students with insight into how their learning has progressed against learning outcomes, exploratory research into the impact of assessment feedback has found that students pay more heed to numeric grades than qualitative comments, despite the latter having more potential to positively impact learning. This paper reports on a project, funded by the Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT), to determine the impact of feedback strategies on students’ learning. Academic staff …

Engaging Students In The Use Of Technologies For Assessment Within Personal Learning Environments (Ples): The Development Of A Framework, David Bolton, Paula M. Mildenhall, Kwong Sim, Lynnette Lounsbury, Maria T. Northcote

Maria Northcote

Higher education students use a wide range of information and communication technologies for personal and study purposes, collectively known as a Personal Learning Environment (PLE). The ways in which students use technologies to prepare and complete assessment tasks, however, has not been researched as much as their general use of technology. This paper reports on the process adopted to develop a research-informed framework to engage higher education students in the use and evaluation of technologies for assessment purposes within their PLEs. The method used to construct the framework is presented alongside recommendations for how the framework may be used by …

Higher Education Student's Use Of Technologies For Assessment Within Personal Learning Environments (Ples), Lynnette Lounsbury, Paula Mildenhall, David Bolton, Maria T. Northcote, Alan Anderson

Maria Northcote

Higher education students' use of technologies has been documented over the years but their specific use of technologies for assessment-related tasks has yet to be fully investigated. Researchers at two higher education institutions recently conducted a study which sought to discover the technologies most commonly used by students within their Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). A specific aim of the study was to determine which of these technologies the students used when they complete and submit assessment tasks such as assignments and examinations. Results from questionnaires, focus groups and mapping exercises are reported and the implications of the findings for developing …

Why Did My Mentor Teacher Only Give Me A Credit?: The Lonely Task Of Grading Your Pre-Service Teacher, Beverly Christian, Peter Kilgour, Andrew Kilgour

Peter Kilgour

The placement of pre-service teachers in

schools to integrate theoretical learning with

practical experience is an integral component

of many tertiary education courses. Issues with

both the reliability and validity of assessment

grades in a workplace environment suggest

a call to strengthen the level of academic

rigour of these placements. In this study,

professional development lecturers in one

education program [Avondale College of Higher

Education, NSW] constructed a standardsbased

grading rubric designed to assist mentor

teachers assess the performance of pre-service

teachers. After implementation of the rubric

for two Professional Experience sessions,

mentor teachers were surveyed to assess the

effectiveness …

Assessment Of Work-Integrated Learning: Comparison Of The Usage Of A Grading Rubric By Supervising Radiographers And Teachers, Andrew Kilgour, Peter W. Kilgour, Tania Gerzina, Beverly J. Christian

Peter Kilgour

Introduction

Professional work-integrated learning (WIL) that integrates the academic experience with off-campus professional experience placements is an integral part of many tertiary courses. Issues with the reliability and validity of assessment grades in these placements suggest that there is a need to strengthen the level of academic rigour of placements in these programmes. This study aims to compare the attitudes to the usage of assessment rubrics of radiographers supervising medical imaging students and teachers supervising pre-service teachers.

Methods

WIL placement assessment practices in two programmes, pre-service teacher training (Avondale College of Higher Education, NSW) and medical diagnostic radiography (Faculty of …

Using Peers To Shed Light On Service Hours For Librarians, Hector Escobar, Heidi Gauder

Hector Escobar

Purpose: Public service hours for many academic librarians have changed within the last decade. As reference statistics have declined, so have job descriptions changed. We often hear terms like outreach, liaison work, embedded librarianship, consulting hours, scheduled appointments. etc., for what used to be normal desk hours. With a changing service model, comes accountability. How do institutions account for these new forms of work and duties that have replaced traditional service desk hours? How does this feed into performance or merit review?

The purpose of this short paper is to shed light on the roles of librarians at medium-sized universities, …

Using Peers To Shed Light On Service Hours For Librarians, Hector Escobar, Heidi Gauder

Heidi Gauder

Purpose: Public service hours for many academic librarians have changed within the last decade. As reference statistics have declined, so have job descriptions changed. We often hear terms like outreach, liaison work, embedded librarianship, consulting hours, scheduled appointments. etc., for what used to be normal desk hours. With a changing service model, comes accountability. How do institutions account for these new forms of work and duties that have replaced traditional service desk hours? How does this feed into performance or merit review?

The purpose of this short paper is to shed light on the roles of librarians at medium-sized universities, …

Let’S Chat: Assessing Virtual Reference Service For Optimal User Experience, Heidi Gauder, Margaret Barkley

Heidi Gauder

Both librarians and student employees staff our virtual reference service, so ensuring consistent and quality chat transactions is important. Sample transcripts from fall 2014 were evaluated, and a fall 2015 follow-up analysis reviewed service improvement efforts. This poster will highlight how a simple scale can be used to assess virtual reference service.

Assessing Success, One Student At A Time, Lauren Newton, Stephanie Weiss, Maria Atilano, Cat Silvers

Maria Atilano

The University of North Florida’s Thomas G. Carpenter Library offers a research consultation service that allows users to schedule one-on-one meetings with a research librarian to discuss their projects. These sessions may consist of a general orientation to library facilities and resources, or may focus on specific research needs. The service has experienced amazing growth since its inception in 2009. The research librarians decided to assess the consultations in large part to decipher why it has grown so significantly, and to ensure that the service remains high quality in the face of growth.

Assessing Success, One Student At A Time, Lauren Newton, Stephanie Weiss, Maria Atilano, Cat Silvers

Stephanie M Lee Weiss

The University of North Florida’s Thomas G. Carpenter Library offers a research consultation service that allows users to schedule one-on-one meetings with a research librarian to discuss their projects. These sessions may consist of a general orientation to library facilities and resources, or may focus on specific research needs. The service has experienced amazing growth since its inception in 2009. The research librarians decided to assess the consultations in large part to decipher why it has grown so significantly, and to ensure that the service remains high quality in the face of growth.

Assessing Success, One Student At A Time, Lauren Newton, Stephanie Weiss, Maria Atilano, Cat Silvers

Lauren Newton

The University of North Florida’s Thomas G. Carpenter Library offers a research consultation service that allows users to schedule one-on-one meetings with a research librarian to discuss their projects. These sessions may consist of a general orientation to library facilities and resources, or may focus on specific research needs. The service has experienced amazing growth since its inception in 2009. The research librarians decided to assess the consultations in large part to decipher why it has grown so significantly, and to ensure that the service remains high quality in the face of growth.

Advancing Campus Priorities 11022016 Final.Pdf, Bruce Keisling, Robert E. Fox Jr.

Bruce L. Keisling

Research-Informed Guidelines For The Development Of Adaptively-Released Assessment Feedback (Araf) Strategies In Higher Education, Lindsay Morton, Alexandra Johnson, Anthony Williams, Maria T. Northcote

Anthony Williams

Assessment feedback has the potential to significantly impact on learning; this can be in the form of quantitative or qualitative feedback, or both. While assessment feedback is intended to provide students with insight into how their learning has progressed against learning outcomes, exploratory research into the impact of assessment feedback has found that students pay more heed to numeric grades than qualitative comments, despite the latter having more potential to positively impact learning. This paper reports on a project, funded by the Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT), to determine the impact of feedback strategies on students’ learning. Academic staff …

Group-Work: Does It Have To Be That Bad?, Anthony Williams, L Henry, R Tucker, N Abassi

Anthony Williams

Many accreditation bodies and universities require the graduate attribute of “an ability to work in teams” or to “effectively collaborate”. Students invariably dislike working in groups maintaining that “malingerers ride on the back” of those students who work hard and contribute effectively to the outcomes of the group or team. This is the context in which an ALTC/OLT project was established, the project is to consider ways of enhancing group-work in Architecture and design related disciplines. The project has identified the issues associated with group-work, from the perspective of student and lecturer, and has begun to develop strategies to overcome …

Research-Informed Guidelines For The Development Of Adaptively-Released Assessment Feedback (Araf) Strategies In Higher Education, Lindsay Morton, Alexandra Johnson, Anthony Williams, Maria T. Northcote

Lindsay Morton

Assessment feedback has the potential to significantly impact on learning; this can be in the form of quantitative or qualitative feedback, or both. While assessment feedback is intended to provide students with insight into how their learning has progressed against learning outcomes, exploratory research into the impact of assessment feedback has found that students pay more heed to numeric grades than qualitative comments, despite the latter having more potential to positively impact learning. This paper reports on a project, funded by the Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT), to determine the impact of feedback strategies on students’ learning. Academic staff …

Higher Education Student's Use Of Technologies For Assessment Within Personal Learning Environments (Ples), Lynnette Lounsbury, Paula Mildenhall, David Bolton, Maria T. Northcote, Alan Anderson

Lynnette Lounsbury

Higher education students' use of technologies has been documented over the years but their specific use of technologies for assessment-related tasks has yet to be fully investigated. Researchers at two higher education institutions recently conducted a study which sought to discover the technologies most commonly used by students within their Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). A specific aim of the study was to determine which of these technologies the students used when they complete and submit assessment tasks such as assignments and examinations. Results from questionnaires, focus groups and mapping exercises are reported and the implications of the findings for developing …

Preparing Public Service Professionals For A Diverse And Changing Workforce And Citizenry: Evaluating The Progress Of Naspaa Programs In Competency Assessment, Nadia Rubaii, Crystal Calarusse

Nadia Rubaii

This paper examines the self-reported progress of public service degree programs in NASPAA for defining, measuring, and assessing student learning outcomes as they relate to the “ability to communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce.” The analysis is placed in the context of the need for cultural competencies among public administration professionals and the evolution of this accreditation standard. Using data drawn from accreditation records, we first present an exploratory qualitative analysis of how programs are defining this competency over time and how progress on this competency relates to progress on competency assessment generally and to other …

The Physiological Profile Of Male Competitive And Recreational Surfers, James Furness, Wayne Hing, Jeremy M Sheppard, Sean Newcomer, Ben Schram, Mike Climstein

Ben Schram

Surfing consists of both high and low intensity paddling of varying durations, utilizing both the aerobic and anaerobic systems. Surf specific physiological studies lack adequate group sample sizes and VO2peak values are yet to determine differences between competitive and recreational surfers. The purpose of this study was therefore to provide a comprehensive physiological profile of both recreational and competitive surfers. This multi-site study involved 62 male surfers, recreational (n = 47) and competitive (n = 15). Anthropometric measurements were conducted followed by DEXA, anaerobic testing and finally aerobic testing. VO2peak was significantly greater in competitive compared to recreational surfers (M …

Bioregional Assessment Project: Sydney Metropolitan, Southern Rivers And Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchments: Data Collation Phase To Study The Impact Of Mining Activity And Coal Seam Gas On Environmental Assets, John Bradd, Tim Cohen, Sam Marx, Sol Buckman, Emma Burkhardt, A Clarke, Nicole Cook, Stephen Cullen, James Daley, Alexi Gavin, Ren Hu, Emma Kiekebosch-Fitt, Matt Lemcke, Andrew Lowe, Thomas Mcmahon, Luke Mcneilage, Kaitlyn O'Mara, Garth Nagle, Sam Robson, Carolyn Silveri, Joe Stammers

John Copeland Nagle

This study was commissioned by the Hawkesbury-Nepean (HNCMA), Sydney Metropolitan (SMCMA) and Southern Rivers (SRCMA) Catchment Management Authorities and undertaken by the University of Wollongong to collate existing data and to provide a preliminary assessment of the potential impacts of coal seam gas (CSG) and coal mining activities on environmental assets within the three CMA regions, where environmental assets were defined under three broad themes; water, land and biodiversity. This study formed part of the Australian Federal Government’s Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (SEWPaC) Bioregional Assessment initiative within regions potentially affected by CSG and coal mining activities. …

Measuring Altruistic Impact: A Model For Understanding The Social Justice Of Open Access, Margaret Heller, Franny Gaede

Margaret Heller

INTRODUCTION Traditional assessment of ways in which open access initiatives and institutional repositories have provided a return on investment normally use pragmatic measures such as download counts and citation benefits. This pragmatic approach misses out on the powerful altruistic impact of improving access to international and/or marginalized communities. Using a frame of social justice, this article considers the importance of developing altruistic measures of repositories, particularly for institutions with missions specifically related to social justice and related themes. METHODS Using web analytics data for search keywords from eight institutions and geographic usage data from nine institutions, the authors were able …

The Promises And Realities Of Evidence-Based Practices: Perceptions From Assessment Personnel, Jessica A. Rueter, Cynthia G. Simpson

Jessica Rueter

Assessment personnel are those individuals who work in the capacity of evaluation of students with disabilities, including, but not limited to, educational diagnosticians, educational examiners, psychometrists, and instructional specialists. These professionals are responsible for identifying strengths and weaknesses and for providing teachers with evidence-based recommendations that can be implemented in the classroom to improve performance of students with learning deficits. This qualitative study examines 19 educational diagnosticians’ perceptions related to the barriers and supports that impacted their ability to provide evidence-based recommendations for students who are learning disabled. Three categories of barriers to issuing successful evidence-based recommendations emerged as a …

The Big Picture: A Practical Model For The Meaningful Development, Implementation, Tracking, And Utilization Of Assessment In Your College Music Program, Kyle Gullings

Kyle Gullings

This poster was presented at the 2016 Texas Music Educators Association conference, in San Antonio, TX.

The Big Picture: A Practical Model For The Meaningful Development, Implementation, Tracking, And Utilization Of Assessment In Your College Music Program, Kyle Gullings

Kyle Gullings

This paper discusses the development, implementation, tracking, and utilization of assessment practices by UT Tyler's Music Department.

Engaging Students Through Assessment: The Success And Limitations Of The Aspal (Authentic Self And Peer Assessment For Learning) Model., Sean P. Kearney, Tim Perkins

Sean Kearney

In 2011 the authors created a model of self- and peer-assessment known as Authentic Self and Peer Assessment for Learning (ASPAL) in an attempt to better engage seemingly disengaged students in their undergraduate coursework. The model focuses on authentic assessment tasks and engages students by involving them in every step of the process from the creation of the criteria on which they will be marked, through to providing exemplars of work, pilot marking and providing peer feedback. This article examines the ASPAL process with regard to whether or not the students are better engaged in their studies as a result …

Engaging Students Through Assessment: The Success And Limitations Of The Aspal (Authentic Self And Peer Assessment For Learning) Model., Sean P. Kearney, Tim Perkins

Tim Perkins

In 2011 the authors created a model of self- and peer-assessment known as Authentic Self and Peer Assessment for Learning (ASPAL) in an attempt to better engage seemingly disengaged students in their undergraduate coursework. The model focuses on authentic assessment tasks and engages students by involving them in every step of the process from the creation of the criteria on which they will be marked, through to providing exemplars of work, pilot marking and providing peer feedback. This article examines the ASPAL process with regard to whether or not the students are better engaged in their studies as a result …

The Role Of Faculty Autonomy In A Course-Integrated Information Literacy Program, Anne Jumonville

Anne Jumonville Graf

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of faculty autonomy in sustaining a successful information literacy program.

Design/methodology/approach – Faculty members were given the opportunity to create courses that integrated and assessed information literacy as part of a course grant program associated with an institutional assessment mandate. This case study analyzes course grant proposals, course assessment methods and results. It also presents results of a follow-up survey of faculty participants to see if they continued to integrate information literacy in other courses. Results are situated in the context of self-determination theory to better understand the …

Reflective Assessment: Opportunities And Challenges, Anne Jumonville Graf, Benjamin R. Harris

Anne Jumonville Graf

Purpose: Librarians engage in assessment for several purposes, such as to improve teaching and learning, or to report institutional value. In turn, these assessments shape our perspectives and priorities. How can we participate critically in the assessment of information literacy instruction and library programming while broadening our view and making room for questions about what we do? This paper explores self-reflection as a method for building on existing assessment practices with a critical consciousness.

Design/Methodology/Approach: In tracing the trajectory of assessment and reflective practice in library literature, the authors conducted a selective literature review and analyzed the potential …

What Does Your Repository Do? Measuring And Calculating Impact, Margaret Heller

Margaret Heller

A multifaceted approach at understanding the impact of institutional repositories using both quantitative and qualitative processes, particularly with regards to alignment with institutional mission.

What Does Your Repository Do?: Understanding And Calculating Impact, Margaret Heller

Margaret Heller

Librarians working in scholarly communications need to understand how to calculate and explain how including work in a repository affects its impact. This presentation describes the current state of research and practice into metrics for repositories including traditional metrics and newer alternative metrics, and some preliminary results of a research study assessing the usage and impact of a Digital Commons repository.