Alonso, M., Stella, C., & Galagovsky, L. (2008). Student Assessment in Large-Enrollment

References

Akar, H., & Yildirim, A. (2009). Change in teacher candidates' metaphorical images about classroom management in a social constructivist learning environment. Teaching in Higher Education, 14(4), 401-415. doi:10.1080/13562510903050152
The purpose of this study was to understand the conceptual change teacher candidates went through in a constructivist learning environment in a classroom management course. Within a qualitative case study design, teacher candidates' metaphorical images about classroom management were obtained through document analysis before and after they were subjected to a constructivist learning environment. Prior to the implementation, the images depicted a 'controlling' or 'leading' type of classroom management approach indicating a disciplinary vision. After the implementation, although the metaphors were mainly retained by participants, the descriptions of the images depicted more a leading type of classroom management that entailed messages of cooperation and sensitivity toward individual differences. The results showed that a constructivist learning process may result in a change in teacher candidates' conceptions of classroom management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Teaching in Higher Education is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Alonso, M., Stella, C., & Galagovsky, L. (2008). Student assessment in large-enrollment biology classes. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 36(1), 16-21. Retrieved from
The writers present a method for assessing students in large-enrollment university biology courses. They reveal that the method, called Understand Before Choosing (UBC), requires students to understand concepts embedded in a text. They compare its design with that of open-ended question examinations and of multiple choice tests. They then present results of evaluations of UBC.

Angus, S. D., & Watson, J. (2009). Does regular online testing enhance student learning in the numerical sciences? robust evidence from a large data set. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(2), 255-272. Retrieved from
While a number of studies have been conducted on the impact of online assessment and teaching methods on student learning, the field does not seem settled around the promised benefits of such approaches. It is argued that the reason for this state of affairs is that few studies have been able to control for a number of confounding factors in student performance. We report on the introduction of a regular (every 3 weeks) low-mark online assessment tool in a large, first-year business mathematics course at the University of New South Wales, a major Australian university. Using a retrospective regression methodology together with a very large and rich data set, we test the proposition that exposure to the online assessment instrument enhances student learning. Significantly, we are able to control for prior student aptitude, in-course mastery, gender and even effort via a voluntary class attendance proxy. Furthermore, the study incorporates two large, and statistically diverse cohorts as well as manipulations in the model tested to robustly examine the outcomes. Our central result is that higher exposure to the online instrument robustly leads to higher student learning, all else being equal. Various implications for online assessment design, implementation and targeting are also discussed.

Barnett, J. (2006). Implementation of personal response units in very large lecture classes: Student perceptions. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 22(4), 474-494. Retrieved from
This article reports on a large scale implementation of personal response units in three introductory science courses at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. An online survey of students was conducted to gather their perceptions on the uses of the devices, triangulated by participant observation of the classes and email interviews with the instructors. Although the students' perceptions were generally favourable, problems associated with implementation were widespread. Advantages and disadvantages of the technology are discussed along with suggestions for its use. (Contains 5 figures and 1 table.) (As Provided)

Bedard, K., & Kuhn, P. (2008). Where class size really matters: Class size and student ratings of instructor effectiveness. Economics of Education Review, 27(3), 253-265. doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2006.08.007
Abstract: We examine the impact of class size on student evaluations of instructor performance using data on all economics classes offered at the University of California, Santa Barbara from Fall 1997 to Spring 2004. A particular strength of this data is the opportunity to control for both instructor and course fixed effects. In contrast to the literature examining class size effects on test-based outcomes—where results can vary considerably across specifications—we find a large, highly significant, and nonlinear negative impact of class size on student evaluations of instructor effectiveness that is highly robust to the inclusion of course and instructor fixed effects. [Copyright 2008 Elsevier]; Copyright of Economics of Education Review is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Bell, D. C., Arnold, H., & Haddock, R. (2009). Linguistic politeness and peer tutoring. Learning Assistance Review, 14(1), 37-54. Retrieved from
The goal of this research was to use politeness theory to analyze the developing tutorial relationship between students and peer tutors in a university writing center. The study monitored two pairs of tutors and students over a period of six weeks, focusing on weeks one and six. Using partial transcripts of recorded sessions along with observation notes, the authors used discourse analysis to determine the significance of politeness in the functioning of the tutorial sessions. The authors concluded that in initial sessions, tutors use politeness strategies to shift between the collaborative role as peer and the authoritative role as tutor, relying more on negative politeness strategies, and after six weeks of recurring sessions, tutors rely less on negative politeness strategies and more on positive politeness strategies. (As Provided)

Beyers, C. (2008). The hermeneutics of student evaluations. College Teaching, 56(2), 102-106. Retrieved from
Student evaluations of teacher performance are generally taken as an important measure of teaching effectiveness. However, they often misrepresent classroom realities. The ratings on the forms frequently reflect students' emotional experiences in their courses rather than pedagogy or the amount of learning. Finally, since education is necessarily progressive, a competent teacher's evaluations should include complaints about difficulty and workload. Administrators need to bear this in mind in their assessment of student ratings so that they do not encourage instructors to teach in fear of their evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of College Teaching is the property of Heldref Publications and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Black, E. W., Greaser, J., & Dawson, K. (2008). Academic dishonesty in traditional and online classrooms: Does the "media equation" hold true? Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 12, 23-30. Retrieved from
Limited empirical research exists regarding the prevalence of academic dishonesty in the online classroom. This limited evidence supports the notion that factors contributing to academic dishonesty in the traditional classroom also apply to online courses. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between factors known to contribute to academic dishonesty in traditional courses with undergraduate students' perceptions of cheating in online courses. 1068 undergraduates enrolled in online courses completed a survey exploring factors known to contribute to academic dishonesty in face-to-face classes and their perception of their peers' level of cheating in online courses. Researchers employed bivariate correlations and multiple regression on data obtained from these students. Results suggest factors known to contribute to academic dishonesty in face-to-face classes have little influence in online courses, and results suggest that future research needs to consider whether students who engage in online learning have different ideas about what constitutes cheating. (Contains 5 tables.)

Blin, F., & Munro, M. (2008). Why hasn't technology disrupted academics' teaching practices? understanding resistance to change through the lens of activity theory. Computers & Education, 50(2), 475-490. Retrieved from
The advent of the Internet heralded predictions that e-learning would transform and disrupt teaching practices in higher education. E-learning also promised to expand opportunities for lifelong and flexible learning, and offered a panacea for practical issues such as decreased funding and increasing student numbers. The anticipated disruption to teaching and learning has not come to fruition however. Although technology is now common place in most higher education institutions--most institutions have invested in a virtual learning environment (VLE) and employ staff dedicated to supporting e-learning--there is little evidence of significant impact on teaching practices and current implementations are accused of being focused on improving administration and replicating behaviourist, content-driven models. This paper discusses a preliminary analysis, rooted in Activity Theory, of the transformation of teaching practices, which did or did not take place in our university following the institution-wide deployment of a VLE. In particular, factors limiting a full uptake of the VLE more advanced functionalities by the wider university community are explored. (Author)

Boehm, P. J., Justice, M., & Weeks, S. (2009). Promoting academic integrity in higher education. Community College Enterprise, 15(1), 45-61. Retrieved from
The purpose of the study is to identify best practice initiatives that contribute to academic integrity and reduce scholastic dishonesty in higher education. Chief academic affairs officers (CAOs) or provosts at four year public and private colleges/universities and community colleges in the United States were surveyed. Four initiatives were found to be significant in reducing scholastic dishonesty: (a) faculty training, (b) effective classroom management strategies, c) clear definitions and examples of cheating and (d) placing an "XF" on official transcripts of students found cheating. Significant differences were found between private institutions and community colleges in two initiatives: (a) encouragement of more collaboration on homework and (b) effective classroom management strategies.

Bongey, S. B., Cizadlo, G., & Kalnbach, L. (2005). Using a course management system (CMS) to meet the challenges of large lecture classes. Campus-Wide Information Systems, 22(5), 252-262. Retrieved from
Purpose: This paper aims to describe the process and the outcome of a situation in which a professor of anatomy and physiology made supplemental use of a course management system (CMS) to assist with the instruction of 242 students. The purpose of this instructor's use of WebCT was to: increase student autonomy and improve access to information; improve student learning and achievement through the expert use of student "Self-Tests", which are an ungraded, interactive tutoring/quizzing feature; create a more active, student-centered learning environment. Design/methodology/approach: Features that were provided in the WebCT site include: student self-tests are ungraded, but act as a basic form of expert system or informative tutor by providing very specific feedback to answers students selected in this multiple choice experience. The feedback to each question was designed by the instructor, who advised students to use the system as a tutor by clicking on a variety of possible answers to gather new information. Comments on answers were designed to demonstrate to the student the "way of thinking" of a professional in the field. Current grade information for individual students. Schedule-related information on labs, due dates, etc. syllabus lecture audio. Findings: Findings suggest that the implementation of the WebCT self-tests contributed to the substantial increase in student test scores. Research limitations/implications: The implications are very exciting and far-reaching in that--through a fairly unobtrusive course re-design--the use of a CMS yielded a measurable improvement in student achievement. Practical implications: The use of these expert-system-like self-tests, gradebooks, and other CMS features has the potential to improve teaching and learning in all manner of courses, including those that are on-ground, blended, and fully online. Originality/value: This paper uses concrete data to demonstrate how a course management system was used to re-design traditional courses and how this re-design resulted in improved student achievement. (Contains 7 figures and 2 tables.) (As Provided)

Borda, E. J., Kriz, G. S., Popejoy, K. L., Dickinson, A. K., & Olson, A. L. (2009). Taking ownership of learning in a large class: Group projects and a mini-conference. Journal of College Science Teaching, 38(6), 35-41. Retrieved from
Helping students take ownership of their learning is often a challenge in a large lecture course. In this article, the authors describe a nature of science-oriented group project in a chemistry course in which students gave presentations in concurrent conference sessions as well as its impact on student learning as evidenced through multiple data sources. Finally, they describe how they plan to improve this project in the future and how it can be adapted to other science courses. (Contains 3 figures and 4 tables.)

Braden, S. W., & Smith, D. N. (2006). Managing the college classroom: Perspectives from an introvert and an extrovert. College Quarterly, 9(1) Retrieved from
One of the biggest challenges facing college instructors in the 21st century is classroom misbehavior. The authors propose that how one handles classroom incivility is a matter of personality type. One of the authors is an extrovert; the other an introvert. The authors discuss personality theory, general classroom management, how to identify student problems, ascertain the cause of student problems and provide an appropriate solution depending upon one's personality type. With the right goals, preparation and strategies all types of professors can effectively deal with disruptive students.

Braxton, J. M., & Jones, W. A. (2008). The influence of student classroom incivilities on communal potential. NASPA Journal, 45(3), 425-439. Retrieved from
This study explores the relationship between such student classroom incivilities as disrespectful disruptions and insolent inattention and student's sense of their likelihood of finding a group of students with which they share in common goals, values and beliefs. A negative relationship between these two forms of classroom incivilities and communal potential was found. Implications for practice are presented. (Contains 2 tables and 1 footnote.)

Buchanan, W. (2006). Correlation between academic and skills-based tests in computer networks. British Journal of Educational Technology, 37(1), 69-78. Retrieved from
Computing-related programmes and modules have many problems, especially related to large class sizes, large-scale plagiarism, module franchising, and an increased requirement from students for increased amounts of hands-on, practical work. This paper presents a practical computer networks module which uses a mixture of online examinations and a practical skills-based test to assess student performance. For widespread adoption of practical assessments, there must be a level of checking that the practical assessments are set at a level that examinations are set at. This paper shows that it is possible to set practical tests so that there can be a strong correlation between practical skills-based tests and examination-type assessments, but only if the practical assessment are set at a challenging level. This tends to go against the proposition that students who are good academically are not so good in a practice test, and vice versa. The paper shows results which bands students in A, B, C, and FAIL groups based on two online, multiple-choice tests, and then analyses the average time these students took to complete a practical online test. It shows that there is an increasing average time to complete the test for weaker students. Along with this, the paper shows that female students in the practical test outperform male students by a factor of 25%. (Author)

Bunce, D. M. (2009). Teaching is more than lecturing and learning is more than memorizing. Journal of Chemical Education, 86(6), 674-680. Retrieved from
The writer addresses barriers to student learning in general-chemistry lectures and ways of overcoming them. The structure of lectures, learning outside of class, teacher-student communication, and student ownership of the course can all present obstacles to learning. Solutions include incorporating innovations--such as multiple-choice tests using clickers--into lectures, learning in non-lecture formats, providing 24-hour online access to materials, implementing a class advisory board to enhance communication, and setting appropriate test questions that are clearly written and delineate the quality and depth of the expected answer. This approach turns a teacher-driven experience into one of a community of learners and helps students to accept more responsibility for their learning and move from blind memorization to a deeper understanding of the subject.

Bunz, U. (2005). Using scantron versus an audience response system for survey research: Does methodology matter when measuring computer-mediated communication competence? Computers in Human Behavior, 21(2), 343-359. Retrieved from
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether results of the computer-mediated communication (CMC) competency scale differ depending on the survey instrument used. Data were collected from 173 undergraduate students (53[percent] female; average age 20). Of these, 96 subjects completed the questionnaire using scantron sheets, while 77 subjects used an audience response system called Classroom Performance System (CPS). All subjects completed a second questionnaire using paper-and-pencil to evaluate their experience with either the scantron sheets or the CPS. t-Test results show that using the CPS is more fun for participants (p.000); no more or less difficult (p=.806); and does not make a difference with regard to experienced time pressure (p=.425). Subjects have higher doubts about the validity of their recorded answers (p=.007) when using the CPS. Regression analysis shows that in two out of 12 constructs of the CMC competency scale, scoring was influenced by using a technological data collection method. The two constructs were "message factors" (p=.002) and "medium factors" (p=.002). Overall, results support the use of the CPS as an alternative to scantron sheets for measuring CMC competence. Copyright (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd