Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Communicating About Computational Thinking: Understanding Affordances Of Portfolios For Assessing High School Students’ Computational Thinking And Participation Practices, Deborah A. Fields, Debora Lui, Yasmin Kafai, Gayithri Jayathirtha, Justice Walker, Mia Shaw

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Background and Context: While assessment of computational thinking concepts, practices, and perspectives is at the forefront of K-12 CS education, supporting student communication about computation has received relatively little attention.

Objective: To examine the usability of process-based portfolios for capturing students’ communication about their computational practices regarding the process of making electronic textile projects.

Method: We examined the portfolios of 248 high school students in 15 introductory CS classrooms from largely underserved communities, using a formal rubric (top-down) to code computational communication and an open-coding scheme (bottom-up) to identify computational practices described.

Findings: Students demonstrated stronger …

Training Design Enhancement Through Training Evaluation: Effects On Training Transfer, Elham Arabi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With recurring changes in the society, in terms of economy and technology, companies need to ensure that their human capital is aligned with these transformations in order to sustain in a competitive industry. To date, organizations view training as a requirement to increase their employees’ efficiencies and productivity, and reduce their attrition rates. Despite investment in employee training, research shows a lack of transfer of learning to job and as a result minimal return on investment. This issue is due to many barriers, but can be addressed by learning professionals. Poor learning design and training evaluation practices have been identified …

Problems And Promises Of Using Lms Learner Analytics For Assessment, Valerie Beech, Eric A. Kowalik

Eric A. Kowalik

Design And Assessment Of Deep And Active Learning In Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Education, Juhong Christie Liu Ph.D., Elizabeth Johnson Ph.D., Jin Joy Mao Ph.D.

Libraries

This presentation draws academic significance from a focused literature review and initial data for learning design in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. The presenters will discuss strategies of fostering deep, active learning, alignment with assessment, and development of assessment instruments and methods. The presenters will share the design and development of an assessment kit to measure learning outcomes that matter in the 21st century STEM education. Through shared evidence and interactive reflection, the audience will take away up-to-date design strategies for deep and active learning as well as assessment in STEM education. The project is sponsored by National …

Stitching Codeable Circuits: High School Students' Learning About Circuitry And Coding With Electronic Textiles, Breanne Krystine Litts, Yasmin B. Kafai, Debora A. Lui, Justice T. Walker, Sari A. Widman

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Learning about circuitry by connecting a battery, light bulb, and wires is a common activity in many science classrooms. In this paper, we expand students’ learning about circuitry with electronic textiles, which use conductive thread instead of wires and sewable LEDs instead of lightbulbs, by integrating programming sensor inputs and light outputs and examining how the two domains interact.We implemented an electronic textiles unit with 23 high school students ages 16–17 years who learned how to craft and code circuits with the LilyPad Arduino, an electronic textile construction kit. Our analyses not only confirm significant increases in students’ understanding of …

Session J: Assessment In Interactive Learning Environments, Michael Timms, Jason Lodge

Dr Michael J Timms

There is an increasing interest in using digital technologies to create interactive learning environments (ILEs) that both teach and assess student skills that are hard or impossible to assess using ‘static’ items such as traditional, multiple-choice questions. These interactive learning environments try to do two things simultaneously: firstly, to monitor the learning of the student in real time, providing feedback to help the student progress through the learning task; and secondly, to use the information gathered during the learning to make judgements about where the student is in learning of the topic. Essentially, ILEs draw upon the same source of …

Assessment In Interactive Learning Environments, Michael Timms, Jason Lodge

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

There is an increasing interest in using digital technologies to create interactive learning environments (ILEs) that both teach and assess student skills that are hard or impossible to assess using ‘static’ items such as traditional, multiple-choice questions. These interactive learning environments try to do two things simultaneously: firstly, to monitor the learning of the student in real time, providing feedback to help the student progress through the learning task; and secondly, to use the information gathered during the learning to make judgements about where the student is in learning of the topic. Essentially, ILEs draw upon the same source of …

The Cure For Early Grades Assessment Difficulties? Take A Tablet, Maurice Walker

Maurice Walker

Maurice Walker reports on an innovative approach to assessment using tablets to monitor educational development in the early years of schooling.

Interaction Online: Above And Beyond The Requirements Of Assessment, Meg O'Reilly, Diane Newton

Dr Meg O'Reilly

Today’s literature is filled with new paradigms for learning, specifically in relation to the increasing adoption of computer-mediated techniques for interactive learning. In many cases, learning may now be enhanced through the experience of a shared online environment for critical discussion, knowledge building and the establishment of supportive social communities. Research data obtained from social science students at Southern Cross University over two semesters reveals students’ perceptions of the importance of online discussion whether these are assessable or not. This paper presents some findings and explores the impact of the emergence of a student-centred social learning environment.

Interaction Online: Above And Beyond The Requirements Of Assessment, Meg O'Reilly, Diane Newton

Dr Meg O'Reilly

Today’s literature is filled with new paradigms for learning, specifically in relation to the increasing adoption of computer-mediated techniques for interactive learning. In many cases, learning may now be enhanced through the experience of a shared online environment for critical discussion, knowledge building and the establishment of supportive social communities. Research data obtained from social science students at Southern Cross University over two semesters reveals students’ perceptions of the importance of online discussion whether these are assessable or not. This paper presents some findings and explores the impact of the emergence of a student-centred social learning environment.

Delivering High Stakes Assessments In A Computerized Testing Center, Philip Wilhauk, Tim Doughty, Ron Knight, Tony Paolo

SIDLIT Conference Proceedings

In August 2005, the University of Kansas Medical Center launched its new 135 seat Computerized Testing Center (CTC). Since that time, the facility has successfully hosted over 30,000 individual high-stakes test sessions using LXR. This presentation will discuss the challenges involved in planning and managing such a facility including pilot testing, security, reliability, scalability, scheduling and support. It will also address the impact the CTC has had on paper/pencil testing.