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The application of learning analytics (LA) to research and practice in higher education is expanding. Researchers and practitioners are using LA to provide an evidentiary basis across higher education to investigate student learning, to drive institutional quality improvement strategies, to determine at-risk behaviours and develop intervention strategies, to measure attrition more effectively and to improve curriculum design and evaluation in both on-campus and e-learning settings. This paper is a case study report of the novel application of LA to programme curriculum review from a major cross-institutional project in Hong Kong. The paper describes the rationale for the project, the conceptual model that led the approach and the development of a software tool that allowed the automation of statistical analyses specifically relevant to programme review. In addition, the paper addresses a major challenge that the project faced in relation to data governance. The paper concludes by proposing the potential benefits of LA for programme curriculum review.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report undergraduate students’ learning gains in six areas of generic skills. The paper reports on students’ responses to the First Year Experience (FYE) Survey completed at the end of their first year and Graduating Student Survey (GSS) in the final semester of their final year. Design/methodology/approach In this study, a longitudinal design was applied in data collection, analysis and reporting of assessment if student learning gains. The undergraduate students who were the first cohort of four-year curriculum students in a Hong Kong university were selected as the sample. Repeated measures of reported learning gains of a longitudinal sample based on stacking of both FYE and GSS data were analysed using the Rasch model. Findings The results showed that the scale for measuring the six areas of generic skills had high reliability and good person separation. Comparison of repeated measures from the same group of students at the two time points were examined to explore whether there is growth in the generic skills during their university studies. Research limitations/implications One limitation of the study was the relatively small sample size of 359 students in one higher education institution. Practical implications The findings of the study provide insight into conceptual understanding and measurement of university student learning gains. Originality/value Whilst several studies have investigated university student learning gains, there is limited research which explores the use Rasch modelling in assessment of student learning gains in multiple areas towards completion of their undergraduate studies.

Capstone projects are common in undergraduate programmes, providing students with a culminating educational experience designed to draw on the knowledge and skills accumulated over the course of th...

Online learning has become a ubiquitous part of the educational landscape and how teachers are supported in developing approaches to teaching online is a fundamental aspect of the students’ learnin...

The purpose of this paper is to describe examples of the application of learning analytics (LA), including the assessment of subject grades, identifying subjects that need revision, student satisfaction and cohort comparisons, to program curriculum review.,Examples of analyses that address specific questions that a curriculum review wishes to address are provided, together with examples of visualizations from the analyses to aid interpretation.,The results show that using LA as a part of curriculum review can provide insights not possible with the traditional curriculum review methods and can yield useful and actionable insights.,The work in this paper illustrates another important application for LA and demonstrates the value this approach has for informing curriculum enhancement at the program level.,The analyses described provide insights not possible with traditional curriculum review methods. However, the challenge remains to develop analytic tools that can assist teachers to conduct LA independently.,LA have been used to predict grades or identify at-risk students (Gasevic et al., 2016), but there is little research on its use for curriculum evaluation (Mendez et al., 2014). This paper addresses this gap and provides examples of its application in program curriculum review and the insights it can provide.

Measuring training outcomes is important given the resources universities invest in staff learning management system (LMS) training. In this paper we show how the effect of LMS training on LMS usage can be evaluated using Rasch analysis of teachers' LMS usage activity logs by making comparisons between teachers who have attended training and those who have not. Our analysis showed that teachers who attended LMS training workshops had higher LMS activity level compared with the untrained teachers. In particular, trained teachers tended to make relatively more use of ‘grade centre’ and of ‘assessment tool’ but relatively less use of ‘content’ in their teaching compared with teachers who did not attend training. The results support Rasch analysis as a useful approach for evaluating the effect of training across a large number of courses and extend understanding from findings from self-report studies of training effectiveness. They also provide insights that inform training practice and highlight its importance for development of online teaching. Implications for professional development of online teaching and the evaluation are discussed.

The application of technology in teaching and learning or eLearning has become a future trend in higher education around the globe. Although it is evolved from conventional teaching and learning, it has distinct features and therefore researchers classify eLearning as a discrete educational form. In the past decade, considerable efforts have been made on investigating the applications or developing models or frameworks regarding eLearning. Limited studies have been conducted to address eLearning quality or quality assurance issues. As nowadays eLearning is extensively adopted in higher education, universities or institutions are accountable for its quality. Quality assurance can be carried out through benchmarking or assessments by the specification of standards. Many national bodies and organizations have established various benchmarks, standards and rubrics to describe or assess the eLearning quality. However, researchers indicated that it is challenging to conduct benchmarking in universities. The main reason is that there is a great diversity of courses or teaching approaches, particularly in eLearning. In this study, a comprehensive review of benchmarks that are available worldwide to assist institutions to support continuously quality assurance or improvement in eLearning has been conducted. The aim of this review is to identify the main eLearning categories and investigate which benchmarks are suitable for each category. Keywords searching was adopted to identify the relevant eLearning benchmarks to be included in this review. Results indicated that 17 sets of benchmarks have been identified and classified into 5 main categories. This paper also describes the uniquenesses of these benchmarks. In addition, the covered areas of these benchmarks will be compared. Suggestions for future research are also addressed.

The Bachelor of Enterprise Learning is a newly accredited undergraduate degree where connectivist principles have been used to guide design of active, student-centered learning activities. A key feature of the curriculum is that it incorporates technology as both a source of information and a tool. Examples from this course are provided in this article showing how connectivist principles can be put into practice in developing learning activities, assessment tasks, and whole subjects. These examples illustrate the value of using a framework such as this for providing consistency in subject design while still leaving scope for innovative and effective pedagogy. They also provide curriculum designers and instructors with practical examples and advice useful for the design and delivery of courses based on a connectivist approach.

This paper reports on the impact and benefits of integrated business learning (IBL) on student learning in vocational Information Communication Technology (ICT) courses. Student reactions to learning experiences located in workplaces and those that model work-practices are explored through experiential learning theories and employability models. Using surveys, in-depth interviews and focus groups, the student voice is captured and triangulated with teacher and industry practitioner observations of student capabilities and employability. The findings show that students highly value and benefit from IBL that provides meaningful connections to the real world of work. Learners are motivated by structured and tailored experiences that provide a strong alignment between the curriculum and professional practice, providing opportunities for both personal and professional development. The critical importance of authentic and situated learning postulated by social development theories is validated in these evaluation findings, which also highlight the efficacy of government facilitated industry engagement for inducing curriculum innovation. To cite this document: Theo Papadopoulos and Christine Armatas, "Evaluation of an ICT skills program: Enhancing graduate capabilities and employability", International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, Vol.4, No.1, pp.93-102, 2013. Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.7903/ijecs.1115

Evaluation of a government-sponsored program for promoting work-integrated learning (WIL) in information communication technology (ICT) courses offered to vocational education students is discussed in this paper. The program provided the opportunity to incorporate WIL in the curriculum which had not previously been a feature of these ICT courses. Three broad approaches identified were work placements, industry projects and industry interaction (including industry guest speakers, networking events and exhibitions). Common challenges identified across the nine programs evaluated included the considerable resources required to recruit and engage industry partners and issues preparing students for WIL. All the program staff interviewed (N = 17) identified cost, time and effort as impediments to delivering WIL in their course, but acknowledged the many benefits for all participants in having such a program. Lessons for program design, effectiveness and sustainability drawn from the evaluation point to future possibilities for continued collaboration between vocational education providers of ICT courses and industry partners in the area of work-integrated learning.

This paper argues that the key to enhancing professional excellence in psychology education lies with ensuring strong alignments between curricular, pedagogical and media/technology mix concerns, delivered within an inter‐linked suite of distributed learning environments designed for the professional preparation of students. An overarching design is necessary because there are recognizable developmental stages of professional competence in psychology, with each stage characterized by specific curricular and pedagogical concerns, which in turn must be supported by different types of distributed learning environments. To equip students for the demands of the profession, deliberate design of distributed learning environments that support all stages of students' professional development in an integrated and purposeful way is essential. Creation d'environnements de formation decentralisee comme support du developpement professionnel dans le domaine de la psychologie Cet expose demontre que la chose principale ...

Whether the personality characteristics of sensation seeking and openness to experience and participation motives differ between participants in the high-risk sport of surfing (n=41) and participants in a low-risk sport (golf; n=44) was investigated. Multivariate analysis indicated that surfers are characterised by higher levels of sensation seeking, as measured by the Sensation Seeking Scale-V (Zuckerman, 1983) and Openness to Experience, as measured by the NEO-Personality Inventory Revised (Costa & McCrae, 1992). Surfers also demonstrated higher levels of Intrinsic Motivation, measured by the Sports Motivation Scale (Pelletier et al., 1995) than golfers, while both groups demonstrated similar levels of Extrinsic Motivation. These results suggest that personality factors, together with types of participation motives, may be useful in discriminating between participants in low- and high-risk sports, which in turn could be used to promote surfing as a positive risk-taking pursuit.

The occurrence of motor dysfunction as a sign of schizophrenia, in addition to being a side effect of medication, has received considerable support in recent years. The current study aimed to systematically investigate both the presence and pattern of one such motor dysfunction, motor overflow. It was hypothesised that patients with schizophrenia would show significantly greater motor overflow than controls, and that the pattern of motor overflow occurrence would also vary significantly between the groups. A finger flexion task was used to examine the presence and pattern of motor overflow. Subjects were asked to maintain target forces, using either their index or small finger, representing 25, 50 or 75% of the maximum strength capacity for whichever finger was performing the task. Patients were found to exhibit significantly greater motor overflow than controls. There were also significant findings with respect to the patterns of motor overflow produced, specifically in regards to fine motor control and performance variability. In summary, patients differed significantly from controls in both the degree and pattern of overflow exhibited.

This paper reports on the use of an online, resource-based learning (RBL) approach in first year psychology at Deakin University. Differences between on- and off-campus students that emerged are examined in the context of the learning goals and study approaches of the two student groups and their attitudes to using computers. Unlike the on-campus students who were less positive about working with computers and reported confusion about how and what to study for the unit, the off-campus students reported feeling confident they had a good study strategy and were more positive about computers. The off-campus students also reported that they spent more time working with electronic resources and attached greater value to them. While all students valued the prescribed resources, the off-campus students found some of the optional, electronic resources valuable because they added to the learning experience. These students also reported greater use of the computer-mediated communication available as part of the onl...

The two studies reported here were designed to test the proposition that greater motor overflow occurs when movements are performed by the non-dominant hand. Unlike previous studies using normal adults, the task in these studies did not require force production. In the first study, a group of 19 right-handed participants performed unweighted finger lifting. That the frequency of motor overflow occurrence was the same regardless of which hand performed the task, did not support findings from other studies where tasks involving force production resulted in more overflow when performed by the non-dominant hand. To investigate further the influence of task characteristics on motor overflow occurrence, in the second study participants were required to remember and reproduce a prescribed sequence of four finger lifts. Left- and right-handed participants (N = 30) performed both single and sequenced finger lifting. The relative frequency of motor overflow (unintended lifts of fingers of the passive hand) was compared between hand preference groups, active hand and task type (single/sequenced). Contrary to the expectation that motor overflow would be greater for the sequenced finger lifting task, overflow was exhibited with a significantly greater frequency on single finger lifting. This finding indicates that task characteristics influence the pattern of overflow occurrence in normal adults. The task used in this study did not involve force production and did not result in an intermanual asymmetry of motor overflow. This contrasts with findings from other studies requiring adults to exert forces where greater overflow occurred when the non-dominant hand was active. However, this study confirms previous findings which show that left-handers produce greater overflow compared to right-handers regardless of the task being performed and the hand performing the task.

A finger flexion task was used to investigate intensity of mirror movement. Subjects were asked to maintain target forces, with either their index or small finger, that represented 25, 50 or 75 percent of their maximum strength capacity for the finger performing the task. Relative to the force produced, males and females exhibited the same amount of mirror movement. However, mirror movement relative to force exerted was greater when the left hand performed the task, a finding consistent with previous research. Greater amounts of mirror movement were recorded for movements of the small finger compared to the index finger, consistent with the cortical activation explanation (Todor and Lazarus, 1986). These results suggest that strength differences are not the principal determinant of intensity of mirror movement. Rather, differing functional roles of the hands and fingers, reflecting differences in cortical activation and organisation, appear to mediate the intensity of mirror movement occurrence.

A concern with E-Learning environments is whether students achieve superior or equivalent learning outcomes to those obtained through traditional methods. In this chapter the authors present the results of a research study comparing students’ learning outcomes with four different delivery methods - printed study material, lecture format, computers and “smart” mobile phones. The results of our study show that learning outcomes are similar when students study by using a computer, mobile phone, or lecture format, while studying with print material yields slightly superior test results. These findings are discussed in the context of the type of learning used in the study and the factors that impact on the effectiveness of using mobile phones for learning purposes, such as learning styles and attitudes to computers. The authors conclude the chapter by briefly discussing developments in mobile technologies and the opportunities they present for mobile learning.

Two challenges with online assessment are making sure data collected is secure and authenticating the data source. The first challenge relates to issues such as network security, robustness against attack and data management. The second is currently a significant impediment to widespread implementation of formal online assessment due to difficulties ensuring the identity of the person completing the assessment. In this chapter the authors discuss technical aspects associated with keeping data secure and the implications this has for delivering online assessment. The chapter also examines technologies that can assist with the issue of authenticating the identity of individuals completing online assessments and we provide some practical advice for those considering using online assessment tools. To conclude the chapter, the authors look at technologies likely to be available in the future and examine how these could be used to conduct online assessment that ensures data security and integrity without imposing an unreasonable burden on users.

This study utilised a finger force task to investigate the influence of attention and age on the occurrence of motor overflow in the form of mirror movements in neurologically intact adults. Forty right-handed participants were recruited from three age groups: 20–30 years, 40–50 years, and 60–70 years. Participants were required to maintain a target force using both their index and middle fingers, representing 50% of their maximum strength capacity for that hand. Attention was directed to a hand by activating a bone conduction vibrator attached to the small finger of that hand. Based on Cabeza’s (2002) model of hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults, it was hypothesised that mirror movements would increase with age. Furthermore, it was expected that when the attentional demands of the task were increased, motor overflow occurrence would be exacerbated for the older adult group. The results obtained provide support for the model, and qualified support for the hypothesis that increasing the attentional demands of a task results in greater motor overflow. It is proposed that the association between mirror movements and age observed in this study may result from an age-related increase in bihemispheric activation that occurs in older adults, who, unlike younger adults, benefit from bihemispheric processing for task performance.

The authors investigated a method for assessing body image satisfaction based on computer manipulation of a digitized image of self using a sample of 56 female students aged 17 to 22 years. The total percentage change when re-sizing the actual image to the ideal by the computer adjustment method was significantly correlated with the figural/silhouette discrepancy method. Both of these measures were correlated significantly with body part satisfaction and body mass index but not with social physique anxiety. Although for this sample the 2 methods yielded similar results, the computer adjustment method addresses several limitations of the figural/silhouette method, such as scale coarseness and the accuracy of proportional change between figural/silhouettes. Furthermore, by using the individual's actual image, potential confounds associated with stylized figure drawings that are typically based on Caucasian physical features are removed. Finally, this method also takes into account the importance of various body parts for determining body image satisfaction.

Motor overflow refers to the involuntary movements which may accompany the production of voluntary movements. While overflow is not usually seen in the normal population, it does present in children and the elderly, as well as those suffering certain neurological dysfunctions. Advancements in methodology over the last decade have allowed for more convincing conclusions regarding the cortical origins of motor overflow. However, despite significant research, the exact mechanism underlying the production of motor overflow is still unclear. This review presents a more comprehensive conceptualization of the theories of motor overflow, which have often been only vaguely defined. Further, the major findings are explored in an attempt to differentiate the competing theories of motor overflow production. This exploration is done in the context of a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders, in order to elucidate the possible underlying mechanisms of overflow.

We investigated both motor overflow and ability to control voluntary movement in patients with Huntington's disease (HD). We hypothesised that, compared with controls, overflow would be significantly greater in HD participants and that they would exhibit poorer control of voluntary movement. In a finger flexion task, participants had to maintain target forces representing 25, 50, or 75% of the maximum strength capacity for whichever finger was performing the task; overflow was measured in the corresponding finger of the non-responding hand. HD participants exhibited significantly greater motor overflow than controls, and more difficulty controlling the target force with the active hand. In addition, the degree of overflow in HD participants positively correlated with overall UHDRS motor symptom severity. The presence of exacerbated motor overflow in HD, and its correlation with symptom severity, is an important finding worthy of further investigation.

The introduction of an online supported, resource based learning environment into a large, multi-modal first year psychology unit led to the spontaneous development of a small, but active, learning community. While off campus students were more active online contributors, many other students “observed” these interactions, not actively contributing but finding the discussion postings valuable to their learning. Overall, use and perceived value of the online communication facilities were related to how confident students were that they had an appropriate study strategy, with off campus and older students reporting greater confidence in their study approach. The results highlight that the nature and function of learning communities for large, multi-modal foundation units are quite different to those typically articulated in the literature and are worth further investigation.

Objective Eating disorders have been typically defined as an “adolescent problem.” As a result of emerging evidence which indicated this health problem to be evident in the prepubescent age range, this study aimed to establish prevalence and factors associated with eating/dieting, physical activity, and body image among a nonclinical, naturalistically-derived sample of preadolescent (aged 10 and 11) school children (n = 61). Method: This cohort of children, which represented the entire grade 6 class of a suburban Elementary school, was measured for body image satisfaction [silhouettes], a participation in activity index, a self-worth scale and a measure of eating attitudes & behavior [Eating and Me scale [E & M]]. Results: The longitudinal assessment of body image [3 measures over 9 months] indicated signs of stability of “actual” assessments of body image for males, but marked changes for females who preferred to be ideally “chunkier” in stature over time. Physical activity was only implicated with bulimia for the male sub-group. The E & M scale reported a Cronbach's alpha of .76, with two factors [bulimia; drive for thinness/anorexia] representing 65% of the total variance. Moderate internal validity [r .58] between body dissatisfaction on the E & M scale and the silhouette measure was observed. Discussion: These results demonstrated that body image views and concerns appeared before puberty, that gender differences prevailed with respect to eating/dieting, activity and body image, and that the E & M scale has emerged as a promising research tool. The longitudinal nature of this study of eating disorders also promotes the need for qualitative research methodology and attention to pre-pubertal cognitive/perceptual processes. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 21: 159–166, 1997.