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| The
aim of the project called Rapid Reaction and Response (R3),
which is sponsored by the Higher Education Academy, is to conduct
research on the in-classroom use of mobile technologies to support
diagnostic and formative assessment. Mobile technologies used are
Electronic Voting Systems, Tablet PC's, Interactive tablets,
i-pods and Mobile phones. |
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| Thirteen
academic staff members from 7 different faculties used mobile technologies
in the classroom for formative assessment purposes and to provide
rapid feedback to students on their knowledge and understanding. This
rapid feedback allows students to identify their areas of weakness
and strengths and their misconceptions or naive conceptions, which
will assist them in focusing their study efforts and therefore diminish
misunderstandings of challenging concepts and promote student learning.
The formative assessment will also inform academic staff about their
students’ understandings of concepts and thus provide staff
with information about the effectiveness of their teaching practices.
Academic staff can use this information to adapt teaching practices
if necessary (i.e. revisit certain components, give students an opportunity
to practise more, add or change pedagogical activities). The teaching
practices can be adapted immediately or in the future. In addition,
in-classroom student-lecturer and student-student interaction can
be fostered through the use of the mobile technologies. |
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| We
will examine the effective use of in-class mobile technologies to
enhance timely feedback and diagnostic/formative assessment and
aim to answer the following research questions: |
- Under
which conditions can each of the technologies be efficiently and
effectively used for diagnostic / formative assessment in classroom
settings?
- What
is the impact of the in-classroom use of mobile technologies for
diagnostic / formative assessment on students’ attitudes
toward the module?
- What
is the impact of the in-classroom use of mobile technologies for
diagnostic / formative assessment on students’ conceptual
understanding?
- What
is the impact of the in-classroom use of mobile technologies for
diagnostic / formative assessment on students’ test results?
- What
is the impact of the R3 project on teaching practices?
How likely is it that that impact, if there is any, will sustain?
- What
is the impact of the R3 project on assessment practices?
How likely is it that that impact, if there is any, will sustain?
- What
is the impact of the R3 project on attitudes on in-classroom
use of mobile technologies? How likely is it that that impact,
if there is any, will sustain?
- What
indicators are there of institutional commitment to and subsequent
uptake of in-classroom use of mobile technologies?
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