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Internship/Ph.D. Opportunity PLA: Participatory Learning Approach. Michael Bieber Jia Shen, Dezhi Wu, Roxanne Hiltz Information Systems Department College of Computing Sciences New Jersey Institute of Technology http://web.njit.edu/~bieber - http://is.njit.edu/pla/ September 2004.
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Internship/Ph.D. OpportunityPLA: Participatory Learning Approach Michael Bieber Jia Shen, Dezhi Wu, Roxanne Hiltz Information Systems Department College of Computing Sciences New Jersey Institute of Technology http://web.njit.edu/~bieber - http://is.njit.edu/pla/ September 2004 1
Motivation • To increase learning of course content • Learning through active engagement • involve students as active participants • with the full problem life-cycle • through peer evaluation • Minimize overhead for instructors 2
All entries posted on-line PLA Process(e.g.,Participatory Exam) • Each student creates 2 exam problems • Instructor edits the problems if necessary • Each student solves 2 problems • Students evaluate (grade) the solutions to the problems they authored, writing detailed justifications • Ph.D. students evaluate each problem a second time • Instructor gives a final grade • optional: Students can dispute their solution’s grade, by evaluating it themselves and writing detailed justifications • Instructor resolves the dispute 3
Instructor Control Process Student Learning Process Course Design Process Flow: Learning from doing the PLA activities Make up problems Set up on-line environment Read- other problems - other solutions - grade justifications - disputes additional learning from reading everything peers write Solve problems Exam Process Control Assign ID Edit questions Assign who answers questions Assign level-2 graders Level-1 and Level-2 graders grade solutions Determine Final Grades Resolve Disputes Dispute final grade 4
Instructor Control Process Student Learning Process Confirmation ID, understand process Course Design Make up problems Set up on-line environment Read- other problems - other solutions - grade justifications - disputes Solveproblems Exam Process Control Assign ID Edit problems Assign who solves problems Assign level-2 graders Level-1 and Level-2 graders grade solutions Determine Final Grades Resolve Disputes Dispute final grade 5
Enjoyability(2 semesters with CIS677) Cronbach’s Alpha=0.68 SA - strongly agree (5 points); A - agree (4); N - neutral (3); D - disagree (2); SD - strongly disagree (1); the mean is out of 5 points; S.D. - standard deviation 6
Perceived Learning Cronbach’s Alpha=0.88 7
Recommendation: Do Again! Similar results for CIS365: undergraduate file structures course using short essay questions (Fall 2002) 8
PLA Environment Software • Guide the process • Form groups • Assign problem solvers, evaluators, dispute arbitrators • On-line templates to ensure full entries • Guide people to post entries in correct place • Incorporate group process tools • Handle problems as much as possible • Remind people who are late • Reallocate who does what • Based on a workflow management tool… 9
Extensions: Activity Support • Can we build in tools to support each activity • How to construct a problem • How to research and construct a solution • How to evaluate a solution • How to resolve a disputed evaluation • Technical term: scaffolding (educational literature) • Initial approach: inquiry-based support (ed. literature) 10
Extensions: Full Collaboration • Groups for: • Problems, solutions, evaluation, dispute arbitration • Requires group process support • Process: work on each activity together or separately, internal review • Grading of individual group members • Process Tools: brainstorming, voting, etc. 11
Extensions: Scope • Which activities? • so far: exams • what about: quizzes, homeworks, larger projects, in-class projects • Which problem types? • so far: short and long essay questions • what about: multiple choice, short answer, computer programs, semester projects • Sub-problems: • computer program design & implementation • semester project outline & execution 12
Extensions: Scope, cont. • Course Level • Graduate, undergraduate, secondary school (high school, junior high) • Disciplines • IS/IT, business, science, engineering, humanities, medical, all of secondary school 13
Extensions: Scope, cont. • Degree of Evaluation (assigning grades) • Currently: solutions • What about: • quality of problems • quality of evaluations/grades • All could be disputed • Degree of Participation • students could evaluate each • students could arbitrate disputes 14
Internship/Ph.D. Opportunity • Literature review and suggestions for all of the extensions • For more information on PLA see http://is.njit.edu/pla/ 15