Project Title: Embedding Transferable Skills
Project Leader(s): P.Clavin
The determination to embed an explicit skills element into the teaching and learning strategy of undergraduate history has been generated by the national, institutional and departmental context. The study of history, like other arts and humanities subjects, has come under renewed pressure by government to demonstrate its utility for employment at a time when vocational relevance is adjudged the priority objective of higher education. It has also become increasingly important to underscore to undergraduates and parents (who bear an increasing proportion of the costs of financing a programme of university study) how the study of history, like other arts and humanities subjects, hones a variety of skills valued in the workplace.The project is motivated by the department’s desire to ensure that all our students have the study and communication skills necessary to complete their course of study and to make a confident and successful entrance into the job-market. The funding will facilitate the redesign of a major first-year course that focuses on, and refines, a number of transferable skills embedded in the teaching of Modern European History (Hist116 &117). In particular, the course is designed to enhance and reward students’ ability: to present ideas orally, to collect information effectively, to be independent and critical thinkers, to demonstrate moral awareness and to work confidently in groups.
Embedding Transferable Skills by P Clavin, Keele University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Project Title: Computer-based Diagnostic Testing and Tutorial Follow-up for First-year Mathematics Students
Project Leader(s): Peter Fletcher and Doug Quinney
For students entering higher education courses in all numerate disciplines there is always some pre-requisite level of mathematical knowledge and skills assumed. Such courses also tend to recruit large numbers of students with a rich diversity of intake qualifications and prior experience. It is essential to identify gaps in students' knowledge at the start of their degree studies and to provide tutorial support tailored to their individual needs.Within two weeks of starting Principal Mathematics, all students take a multiple-choice computer-based diagnostic test, which produces a graded profile of their skills in A-level topics such as basic algebra, differentiation and integration. Based on the results, each student is assigned to one of three computer-based learning modules, and all students take part in paper-based exercises in differentiation (this is known as 'The Differentiation Blitz'). The aims of the project were:
(1) to validate the diagnostic test by comparing its results with those of the paper exercises;
(2) to compare two computer-based learning modules, Mathwise and ShowMath, particularly with regard to
- the difficulty of inputting mathematical expressions,
- the nature of the tutorial dialogue between student and program,
- the ability to identify students who are in most need of help at a critical time in their undergraduate studies.
Questionnaires were used to gather students' views on the diagnostic test, the paper exercises, and the computer-based modules. In addition, 28 students re-took the diagnostic test after the Differentiation Blitz.
The test results show
- a high correlation between the diagnostic test score and the paper-based exercise score, thus serving to validate the diagnostic test;
- a much greater improvement in test scores in the group that took ShowMath than with the Mathwise group. The sample is small but the difference is statistically significant.
The questionnaire results throw light on a wide range of issues to do with the use of computers for teaching and assessment. It is our intention to write up a full version of the results for publication.
Computer-based Diagnostic Testing and Tutorial Follow-up - Final Report
Computer-based Diagnostic Testing and Tutorial Follow-up for First-year Mathematics Students by Peter Fletcher and Doug Quinney, Keele University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
