Dr. Maria Limniou The School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering

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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. Training Course 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

6. A survey • 33 teacherswho cover 11 courses The questionnaire was seeking information about the use of VLEs and their teaching approach Two main categories • General questions: the use of VLE’s components and their teaching difficulties and needs • 5-point Likert-type scale for the design and use of online courses • 108 engineering students The questionnaire was seeking information about their learning experience Limniou and Smith, 2010

7. 1st Question Teachers: In which way do you prefer to present your teaching material? Students: In which way do you prefer your learning material to be presented? 51.52 % 88.89 % 42.42 % 44.44 % 78.79 % 44.44 % 15.15 % 77.78 % 9.09 % 66.67 %

8. 2nd Question Which difficulties do you face in your course? 57.58 % 16.67 % 30.30 % 48.72 % 3.03 % 39.32 % 12.12 % 56.41 %

9. 3rd Question Which VLE component(s) do you believe are more useful for your course? 75.76 % 55.56 % 48.48 % 61.11 % 36.36 % 22.22 % 42.42 % 83.33 % 48.48 % 50.00 % 15.15 % 44.44 %

10. 4th Question Teachers: Which teaching needs do you have as a teacher for your course? Students: Which learningneeds do you have as a student for your course? 24.24 % 55.56 % 78.78 % 88.89 % 9.09 % 66.67 % 12.12 % 66.67 %

11. Conclusions

12. Feedback For students: The National Student Survey (NSS) 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). 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)

13. 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 (2008-2009)

14. 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

15. BeAM Project An project entitled BlackBoarde-Assessment for MACE (BeAM) was funded by the Academic Support of the Manchester University Academic year: 2009-2010 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.

16. 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

17. Participants and experimental condition 8 courses and two groups of students 104 students Before the BeAM project (B-BeAM) where academic staff designed e-assessments without providing feedback 126 students After the BeAMproject (A-BeAM) where PhD students created e-assessments with feedback 34 e-assessments: for each quiz was created 10-15 questions by PhD students working with the teachers For all e-assessments: different types of questions (multiple choice, matching short answer etc.)

18. Case 1: Feedback on each student’s response

19. Case 2: General feedback to students independent on their response

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

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

22. 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.

23. Thank you Any questions!!! Dr. Maria Limniou Maria.Limniou@manchester.ac.uk