Student generated content for enhanced engagement and learning

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

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Student generated content for enhanced engagement and learning

PHEC 8-9 Sept 2011, Lancaster UK.

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh Edinburgh, Scotland

5th July, 2010

Paul Denny

PeerWise bridging the gap between online learning and social media

Department of Computer Science The University of Auckland New Zealand http://peerwise.cs.auckland.ac.nz/

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

Intro and overview of PeerWise

Group-based question creation session

(Break)

Groups answer questions created

Results of pilot implementation at Edinburgh 2010-11

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

overview

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

Student familiarity with

Web 2.0 The energy and

creativity of a large class

Student requests for

more problems

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

•  Web-based MCQ repository built by students

•  Students: – develop new questions with

associated explanations – answer existing questions and

rate them for quality and difficulty –  take part in discussions – can follow other authors

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

•  2007-Summer 2010 –  45 institutions

–  260 courses

–  20661 students have contributed

–  57324 questions have been written

–  1527574 answers have been submitted

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

•  To date –  140 institutions

–  879 courses

–  47719 students have contributed

–  164503 questions have been written

–  3879994 answers have been submitted

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

What we did in our course(s)

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

PeerWise was introduced in workshop sessions in Week 5

Students worked through structured introductory activities

Grunge Prowkers test available from www.uwe.ac.uk/elearning/examples/mcq.pdf 10

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

PeerWise was introduced in workshop sessions in Week 5

Students worked through structured example task and devised own Qs in groups.

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

In S1, an assessment was set for the end of Week 6:

Minimum requirements:

•  Write one question •  Answer 5 •  Comment on & rate 3

Contributed ~3% to course assessment 13

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

We were deliberately hands off.

•  No moderation •  No corrections •  No interventions at all

But we did observe…..

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Your turn

•  Assemble into themed groups (eg mechanics, e&m, quantum, data handling, thermal)

•  Create some questions…..

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

What we found engagement, examples, effects

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It’s just a gimmick…..

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

Uptake for in- course assessment

(class size of ~200)

350 questions in total

~3500 answers ~2000 comments

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Workshop training

Live Due

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They’ll put in nonsense & irrelevant questions….

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

Quality of submissions:

•  Average quality was very good

•  Few trivial questions / nonsense distracters

•  ‘Community moderation’ discouraged sub-par questions

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The questions will be poor quality… rote learning, factual recall blah blah blah…..

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

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The science will be all wrong……

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

Perceptions

We sought student feedback both in ‘wash-up’ sessions after the assessment and in the end of course questionnaire

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Positives

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

Positives

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Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

Negatives

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… but they’ll lose interest after a while….

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Mid-semester deadline

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End-of-semester deadline

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… but you can’t prove that greater use correlates with performance….

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

Low PeerWise Activity

High PeerWise Activity

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

Matched Pairs: Scottish, male, non-majors

1 2 3 4 5 6 PW activity

X MPA X MPA LPA LPA No auth

PW mark

X 23 X 23 14 14 CW 70 71 48 50 62 67 Exam 56 69 49 54 40 34 Grade B A D C D Fail

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Take-homes: •  Provide orientation task •  Set the quality bar very high •  Force yourself to be hands-off •  Set an assessment task •  Leave the deadline as late as you can •  Assessment is quality-based but light-load (no

direct marking required) •  Unleash the creativity of your students!

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

http://bit.ly/EdPER

Acknowledgements: We gratefully acknowledge departmental

development project grant support from the Higher Education Academy UK Physical Sciences Centre.

ross.galloway@ed.ac.uk

Physics Education Research The University of Edinburgh

Now under way: •  JISC Assessment and Feedback research project:

Student Generated Content for Learning (SGC4L)

Forthcoming HEA funding opportunities: Volunteer partner institutions needed