Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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Familiarity Breeds Content:
Student generated content for
enhanced engagement and learning
Simon Bates, Judy Hardy, Ross Galloway and Karon McBride
http://bit.ly/SGC4L
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland
5th July, 2010
Paul Denny
PeerWisebridging the gap between online learning
and social media
Department of Computer Science
The University of Auckland
New Zealand http://peerwise.cs.auckland.ac.nz/
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Intro and overview of PeerWise
(Elluminate room)
Hands-on!
http://peerwise.cs.auckland.ac.nz/
Results of pilot implementation at Edinburgh
2010 and 2011 and Q&A
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
overview
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Student
familiarity with
Web 2.0
The energy and
creativity of a
large class
Student
requests for
more problems
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
• Web-based MCQ repository built by
students
• Students:
– develop new questions with
associated explanations
– answer existing questions and
rate them for quality and difficulty
– take part in discussions
– can follow other authors
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
• 2007-Summer 2010
– 45 institutions
– 260 courses
– 20661 students have contributed
– 57324 questions have been written
– 1527574 answers have been submitted
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
• To date
– 140 institutions
– 879 courses
– 47719 students have contributed
– 164503 questions have been written
– 3879994 answers have been submitted
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
What we did in our course(s)
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
2010 - PeerWise was introduced in
workshop sessions in S1 Week 5
Students worked through
structured introductory activities
Grunge Prowkers test available from www.uwe.ac.uk/elearning/examples/mcq.pdf
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
PeerWise was introduced in workshop
sessions in Week 5
Students worked through
structured example task
and devised own Qs
in groups.
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
In S1, an assessment was set for the end
of Week 6:
Minimum requirements:
• Write one question
• Answer 5
• Comment on & rate 3
Contributed ~3% to course assessment13
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
We were deliberately
hands off.
• No moderation
• No corrections
• No interventions at all
But we did observe…..
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Your turn!
http://peerwise.cs.auckland.ac.nz/
• Click on ‘Get started’ top right
• Course code 5808
• Pick a username (user001-user100)
• Create some general knowledge Qs
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
What we found
engagement, examples, effects
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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It’s just a
gimmick…..
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Uptake for in-
course assessment
(class size of
~200)
350 questions
in total
~3500 answers
~2000 comments
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Workshop
training
Live Due
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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They’ll put in
nonsense &
irrelevant
questions….
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Quality of submissions:
• Average quality was very good
• Few trivial questions / nonsense distracters
• ‘Community moderation’ discouraged sub-par questions
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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The questions will
be poor quality… rote learning, factual recall
blah blah blah…..
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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The science
will be all
wrong……
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Perceptions
We sought student feedback both in
‘wash-up’ sessions after the
assessment and in the end of course
questionnaire
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Positives
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Positives
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Negatives
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Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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… but they’ll
lose interest
after a while….
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Mid-semester
deadline
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
End-of-semester
deadline
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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… but you can’t
prove that
greater use
correlates with
performance….
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Low PeerWise
Activity
High PeerWise
Activity
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Matched Pairs: Scottish, male, non-majors
1 2 3 4 5 6
PW
activityX MPA X MPA LPA LPA
No
auth
PW
markX 23 X 23 14 14
CW 70 71 48 50 62 67
Exam 56 69 49 54 40 34
Grade B A D C D Fail
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
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Take-homes:
• Provide orientation task
• Set the quality bar very high
• Force yourself to be hands-off
• Set an assessment task
• Leave the deadline as late as you can
• Assessment is quality-based but light-load (no
direct marking required)
• Unleash the creativity of your students!
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
Now under way:
JISC Assessment and Feedback research project:
Student Generated Content for Learning
(SGC4L)
http://bit.ly/SGC4L
Physics Education ResearchThe University of Edinburgh
http://bit.ly/EdPER
Acknowledgements:We gratefully acknowledge funding from
• JISC
• Higher Education Academy UK Physical
Sciences Centre.
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