All Ireland Society for Higher Education
| Name: | Rovcanin , Lejla |
|---|---|
| Email: | lrovcanin@ncirl.ie |
| Institution: | (blank) |
The aim of this workshop is to address two issues: - using different assessment approaches to increase computing students' motivation - using common office tools for simple assessment implementation and correction Increasing Students' Motivation Programming is a skill best learned by practice, and students must be motivated to do self-directed study. Motivation is an abstract concept that is difficult to measure in any meaningful way [Bal77]. [Kel83] defines motivation as multiplication of value and expectancy: motivation = value x expectancy. In the past students have directed themselves towards a particular career based on basic criteria such as level of pay [Jen01]. The recent downturn in the IT sector, has for some computing students, removed that extrinsic motivation factor. A great deal of current research is focused on the value of inspiring students' interest in the subject. Our focus in this research is to increase the motivation of students with new approaches to assessment techniques. Assessment Implementation The majority of third level lecturers/instructors are familiar with common office tools, such as Microsoft Word, or Microsoft PowerPoint. This workshop introduces new ways of using familiar office tools extended with Macromedia Breese to produce different assessment tools that could be easily delivered through any standard web browser. The workshop involves constructing an online training system that includes assessments, tracking and analysis. The assessment objects are kept in a central library and can be easily found and reused. References [Bal77] S. Ball (ed.). Motivation in Education. Academic Press, 1977. [Jen01] T. Jenkins, The motivation of students of programming, ACM SIGCSE Bulletin , Proceedings of the 6th annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education, United Kingdom, Volume 33 Issue 3, Canterbury, Pages: 53 - 56, June 2001 [Kel83] J. M. Keller, Motivational Design of Instruction, In Charles M. Reigeluth (ed.), Instructional-Design Theories and Models: An Overview of their Current Status, PP 383- 464, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1983.
(Abstract ref: #17.)