Dr. Maria Limniou The School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering The University of Manchester Pedagogical beliefs of engineering teachers and students by using VLE A case of e-assessments supported by feedback

Students “Net Generation” Prefer (Oblinger and Oblinger, 2005) to receive information quickly to have multi/multimodal communication channels to access information to e-communicate with their peers and tutors Our main concern is to relate students’ learning with the learning technology. Ellis et al., 2009

VLEs (Blackboard, WebCT etc.) Provide a great flexibility without the need to download and/or install any kind of software Provide an interface for designing a course by using a set of education tools to facilitate learning, communication, collaboration and assessments Provide a set of administration tools to assist the teachers in the process of management and continuous improvement of their courses Provide support for both on-campus or off-campus learning

Teachers Do not use VLEs extensively because of: their workloads their unfamiliarity with the use of ICT the design of high quality material their unfamiliarity with electronic communication the lack of training on the new technologies Heaton-Shrestha et al., 2005

Training Course MAC EMACE The School of Mechanical Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE) Covers topics regarding The design and management of e-courses E-assessment methods and plagiarism detection Podcasting and Communication tools and Virtual Labs

A survey teachers33 teachers who cover 11 courses The questionnaire was seeking information about the use of VLEs and their teaching approach Two main categories 1.General questions: the use of VLE’s components and their teaching difficulties and needs 2.5-point Likert-type scale for the design and use of online courses engineering students108 engineering students The questionnaire was seeking information about their learning experience Limniou and Smith, 2010

1 st Question Teachers: teaching Teachers: In which way do you prefer to present your teaching material? Students: learning Students: In which way do you prefer your learning material to be presented? Most chosen responses TeachersStudents Printed material Slides using an over head projector PowerPoint Presentations Websites Online courses on VLE %88.89 % %44.44 % %44.44 % % % 9.09 % %

2 nd Question Which difficulties do you face in your course? Most chosen responses TeachersStudents Limited time Background Knowledge Giving/Receiving individual feedback Assessment methods % % %48.72 % 3.03 % % % %

3 rd Question Which VLE component(s) do you believe are more useful for your course? Most chosen responses TeachersStudents Online learning modules Assessment Assignment Discussion Board Announcements % % % % %22.22 % % % % % %44.44 %

4 th Question Teachers: teaching Teachers: Which teaching needs do you have as a teacher for your course? Students: learning Students: Which learning needs do you have as a student for your course? Most chosen responses TeachersStudents Students learn through feedback Students manage their own learning Students work together Students search on the Internet % % % % 9.09 % % % %

Conclusions QuestionsTeachersStudents MaterialPowerPoint Presentations Printed material Websites Online courses on VLE DifficultiesLimited Time Background Knowledge Assessment methods Background Knowledge Receive individual feedback VLE components Online learning modules Assessments Announcements Discussion BoardAssessments Online learning modules Needs Manage learning Search on the Internet Work together Feedback

Feedback For teachers: For teachers: students do not pay attention to the feedback provided on assessments, because they cannot see their usefulness in their learning and also complain that assessments are expensive (of staff time) to be prepared. (Bloxham & Boyd, 2007) For students: For students: The National Student Survey (NSS) 1% indicated that only a 1% rise in student satisfaction with feedback that they received The lack of detailed teacher comments and delays on receiving feedback. (HEFCE, 2009).

Assessments within The School In some cases students waited for several weeks to receive feedback. Many students felt frustrated with the traditional delivery method of assessment and feedback Many students find their courses difficult and need more practice and the opportunity to study alone outside normal hours. National Student Survey ( )

Discussion Any suggestions how we could enhance the learning without overload teachers’ time!!! Basic points: improve the assessment methods supported by feedback, students to manage their own learning

BeAM Project BeAM BeAM An project entitled BlackBoard e-Assessment for MACE (BeAM) was funded by the Academic Support of the Manchester University Academic year: Academic year: Aim: Aim: study the contribution of other university members such as PhD students to the creation of e-assessments by delivering feedback to students through VLEs.

Objectives How PhD students could contribute to teaching and learning by using VLEs without decreasing the quality of the education, How students reacted to e-formative assessments designed by PhD students and What are students’ expectations for their learning by using e-formative assessments

Participants and experimental condition 8 courses and two groups of students BBeAMB-BeAM 104 students Before the BeAM project (B-BeAM) where academic staff designed e-assessments without providing feedback ABeAM A-BeAM 126 students After the BeAM project (A-BeAM) where PhD students created e-assessments with feedback 34 e-assessments: 34 e-assessments: for each quiz was created questions by PhD students working with the teachers For all e-assessments: For all e-assessments: different types of questions (multiple choice, matching short answer etc.)

Case 1: Feedback on each student’s response

Case 2: General feedback to students independent on their response

Project Evaluation Multiple choices: Multiple choices: general questions and Likert-type scale: Likert-type scale: affective factor, practicality and pedagogy

The difficulties that they face in their course 46 % 60 % 31 % 14 % 52 % 24 %

Conclusions E-assessment supported by feedback gave the students the opportunity to actively participate in their own learning process be more responsible for their own learning control their learning process in terms of what they already knew and what they needed to know and develop critical reflective skills on their learning outcomes.

Thank you Any questions!!! Dr. Maria Limniou

The difficulties that they face in the assessment methods

Conclusions Compare with the traditional assessment methods: greater flexibility, cost effectiveness and timesaving for the staff a richer range of material (coloured images, graphs etc.) give enough time to students to participate in self- assessment immediate feedback related to students’ performance and needs