Evaluation and analysis of the application of interactive digital resources in a blended-learning methodology for a computer networks subject F.A. Candelas,

Evaluation and analysis of the application of interactive digital resources in a blended-learning methodology for a

computer networks subjectF.A. Candelas, P. Gil, Carlos A. Jara, Juan A. Corrales

AUROVAAutomatics, Robotics and Computer Vision Group

http://www.aurova.ua.es

4th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation14th-16th November of 2011, Madrid (Spain)

Madrid, Spain 14-16 November 2011 ICERI 2011

Introduction Educational methodology Development of the digital resources

Contents and assessment Creation of the teaching materials Assessment and self-assessment questionnaires

Results obtained Improving learning process with self-assessment Students’ opinion

Conclusions

Contents

index


The paper shows the application of a blended-learning methodology completed by a set of interactive digital resources.

These resources are based on interactive user guides, self-

assessment and qualification questionnaires, managed by the web learning platform Moodle.

In order to analyze this approach, a complete study based on the scores of all questionnaires was carried.

The results of the study indicate that this work has been helpful and useful to improve students’ learning.

Introduction

introduction





Conclusions

Contents

index


Educational Methodology

educational methodology

Target subject: Data Transport Systems (Comp. Science degree) Technical subject about current computer networks technologies. Practical experimentation is very important: it is required for

student. The work presented here is related to the practical experiments.

Organization of laboratory classes Student must attend the lab to solve most exercises because

experiments are performed on specific equipment. Student is guided by manuals explaining fundamental concepts

and experiments, in addition to teacher support. It is intended that students learn by solving problems in and

constructive and collaborative way. Student's skills are assessed by a test questionnaire for each block

of experiments, using the same type of issues that arise in manuals.

Continuous assessment. Also the student's attendance and class participation are considered for final qualifications.


Educational Methodology

educational methodology

Assessment of the proposed methodology To know how new materials and teaching methods affect student

learning, different studies have been carried out: Comparison of marks obtained by students who have used new

methods (2010-11) and marks of students who have not (2009-10). Comparison of final qualifications and results of self-assessment tests. Questionnaire to collect student opinions regarding new materials.

Improvements in academic year 2010-11: B-learning techniques have been applied to offer new materials to

the student through the corporative Moodle of the university: Manuals with interactive contents, in addition to classic static format. Self-assessment questionnaires with the same format as evaluation

tests. The main aim is to improve non-contact work outside the

laboratory: Preparation of the experiments and subsequent analysis.





Conclusions

Contents

index


Development of Resources

development of digital resources

The materials of the three practices of the subject are published in the LCMS Moodle platform.

Different types of materials: traditional materials (pdf manuals, slides, etc) and new interactive materials.

Outline of the different materials published in Moodle




New Interactive Materials created as SCORM packages by Wimba:

Web navigation along the contents: Better organization and easy access to important sections.

Interactive activities: Students finish and verify exercises while they follow the practice manual.

Snapshots of interactive materials




Assessment and self-assessment questionnaires implemented as activities in Moodle:

Different types of questions are available. Automatic correction with immediate results for students. Possibility of reviewing the student’s answers.

Example of multiple choice question withfeedback (in bold) from self-assessmentquestionnaire.

Example of cloze question withfeedback (in bold) from

self-assessment questionnaire.




The results obtained from the activities developed in Moodle have been used to analyse the learning process of the students:

Three compulsory assessment questionnaires, whose results are used to compute the students marks.

Three optional self-assessment questionnaires, whose results do not influence in the final marks.

A routing exercise developed as a traditional exam.

71.4% of students have completed the practical classes.

Number of Students who completed the tests.





Conclusions

Contents

index


Participation in the self-assessments: Experiment 1 (E1): The 71.25% of students (57 of 80

students) Experiment 2 (E2): The 80% (60 of 75 students) Experiment 3 (E3): The 73.92% (54 of 73 students)

These self-assessments can be answered one or more times by means of questionnaires, managed by the web learning platform Moodle.

The results of the assessment depend on the number of attempts used by students to solve the self-assessments.

Results Obtained

Self-assessments


Results Obtained

Self-assessments

•The majority of the students have spent 2 or less attempts.

• In general, the majority of students have spent 2 attempts to achieve a qualification between 7 and 10 according to Spanish Academic Grading System (70% of the answers are correct)

Con

text

Number of participation of students per number attempts

The number of attempts used to pass the test of

each experiment

Achieved qualification by the students according to the number of

attempts


Results Obtained

Self-assessments

Comparison between the marks (Spanish Academic System) achieved by students

with regard to their assessments and self-assessments.

Equivalence between the Spanish Academic Grading System and USA

grading system.

•The difference is minimal when they have used 3 attempts to answer correctly the questions of test (see images from Figures).

•Moreover, from 1 attempt in self-assessments, the student have obtained mark 7 (very good in Spanish grade or mark‘C’ in USA grade) in all experiments:

•Furthermore, Figures show as the non-participant students (number of attempts is 0) on the self-assessments have obtained the lowest mark on the assessments (final test).

•So, the self-assessments help to improve the mark of students.

Con

clu

sio

ns

Difference Minimal

With 1 attempt, the

student achieve a

good result


Results Obtained

Self-assessments

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%

Qualification 2010

Qualification 2011

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45% Qualification 2010

Qualification 2011

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%Qualification 2010

Qualification 2011

Comparison between the students’ marks of the two last academic

courses•Experiment 1 (E1):

• The 8.5% with mark ‘A’ and 4.5% with mark ‘B’ more students in 2011 than in 2010.

• The number of non-participant students has decreased (5%). The student loses the fear of the examination.

•Experiment 2 and 3 (E2-E3): •The 23% and 17% of students achieve a mark ‘A’ in E3 and E2, respectively.

• At the same time, the number of students which do not pass the final test have decreased, 7% and 18% for these experiments.

Hig

hlig

hts

8.5% more students with

mark ‘A’

5% less

23% more with mark ‘A’

17% more with mark ‘A’

7% less 7% less


An extension of the previous study was done to determine the degree of satisfaction of the students in relation to the teaching methodology in 2011

A survey has been arranged in the educational platform Moodle-UA.

The survey consists of questions about the four different aspects such as assessments, self-assessments, types of resources and quality of experiments.

The survey is voluntary and it has been answered by 24 students (25%).

Results Obtained

Students’ Opinion


Results Obtained

Students’ opinion

•The level of requirements to pass the exam (final test) is according to the contents and aspects studied in the experiments.

•The difficulty to pass the exam is low. This means the exam is easy.•The tests of self-assessment have been very useful to self-measure the knowledge level and skills acquired before making the exam (final test).

•The self-assessment and assessments tests are quite similar though not too (majority opinion is medium).

•The difficulty level of the self-assessment tests is higher than the assessment test (majority opinion is high in self-assessments in comparison with low-medium in assessments).

Stu

den

ts t

hin

k

Opinion about the final test used to asses the subject

0 5 10 15 20

High

Medium

Low

Very low

Ass

essm

ent

Dificulty level

Contents distribution level

0 10 20 30

High

Medium

Low

Very low

Self-

asse

ssm

ent

Similarity level

Dificulty level

Opinion about the self-assessments tests used to prepare the training to pass the

final test


Results Obtained

Students’ opinion

•The 87% of students prefer Moodle versus Virtual Campus-UA ) independently of the resources format (SCORM-web, PDF, etc.).

•Moreover, the 57% of students prefer PDF opposite SCORM-web .•The students prefer assessment tests implemented by means of quiz module of Moodle versus classic test with short or long questions in paper.

•The 75% of students consider that the following of the subject is easy. •The majority of students consider that the skills achieved are useful or very useful for their first future jobs.

Hig

hlig

hts

Opinion about the educational platform and resources.

Acquired skills to use it in a future job

PDF-Virtual

campus UA

13%

PDF-Moodle

57%

Web SCORM-Moodle

30%

Paper0%

Moodle (online form)87%

Test-Questions

(write)4%

Reports (write)

9%

Preference: documents format and type platform

Preference: classic test or online test

0 5 10 15 20

High

Medium

Low

Very low

Expe

rim

ents

Utility level for the future job

Dificulty level to learn0 5 10 15 20

High

Medium

Low

Very low

Expe

rim

ents

Utility level for the future job

Dificulty level to learn





Conclusions

Contents

index


The application of a blended-learning methodology using a set of interactive digital resources for the subject Data Transport Systems in the Computer Science Engineering degree at the University of Alicante, has been effective.

The results obtained verify that this work has been helpful and useful to improve students’ learning. Students who used self-assessment questionnaires obtained higher scores in the practical assessment test.

Students rated very well the new materials included in Moodle, and especially the self-assessment questionnaires.

The results of the study indicate that this work has been helpful and useful to improve students’ learning.

Conclusions

conclusions

Evaluation and analysis of the application of interactive digital resources in a blended-learning methodology for a

computer networks subjectF.A. Candelas, P. Gil, Carlos A. Jara, Juan A. Corrales

AUROVAAutomatics, Robotics and Computer Vision Group

http://www.aurova.ua.es

EndThanks for your

attention

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Evaluation and analysis of the application of interactive digital resources in a blended-learning methodology for a computer networks subject F.A. Candelas,