The BPS research digest recently featured a study that investigated
children's reports of factual and narrative information after a visit to a museum. The children were six years old and, perhaps of no surprise to parents, the children were able to recall a large amount of information. Of particular interest is that they could remember significantly more when they drew at the same time as retelling their trip to the museum. In fact, they were able to remember twice as much factual information when drawing.

Some of the 'drawing' effect was put down to the subconscious verbal encouragement given to children by adults while they were drawing. Drawing could also be acting as a motivator and provide memory clues.

Despite recalling lots of information, the children performed relatively poorly in a traditional comprehension test of 12 questions. One explanation is that the children were interested in different aspects of the same phenomena from adults (something that is known from research elsewhere) and the adults made up the test.

As well as highlighting the value of taking children to museums, there is a strong message in this research in terms of methods for assessing and supporting children's learning.

Gross, J., Hayne, H., & Drury, T. (2009). Drawing facilitates children's reports of factual and narrative information: implications for educational contexts. Applied Cognitive Psychology23(7), 953-971.

Labels: assessment, drawing, education, memory, motivation, museums, schools

In the past week, the issue of the uptake of innovation or technology has arisen in two of our projects - one considering implementation of new LMS in the NHS, and the other at the usage of e-portfolios (and other e-assessment) in Further Education Skills for Work courses.

So, I've been reading round the subject, looking at a variety of models - the most well known probably being Rogers' Innovation Curve (or Technology Adoption Lifecycle), and have just found
"The pencil metaphor". I like this idea, where Lindy McKeown uses the idea of a pencil (and related puns!) to demonstrate ICT uptake in Education. Some aspects of her ideas match up well with Roger's model, particularly at the 'sharp' end!

Labels: adoption, assessment, education, elearning, furthereducation, ICT, innovation, innovationcurve, model, NHS, technology, uptake

It was a week for assessment events - the e-Assessment Association Glasgow seminar, and a joint Assessment meets Enterprise meets Portfolio CETIS meeting. While the eAA is perhaps more focused on schools and colleges, and CETIS relates more strongly to HE, there was still some interesting links between the two events.

Helen Ashton and Cliff Beevers gave a presentation at the eAA that covered some of the history, current status and future of e-Assessment. This wasn't just the technology though, Helen talked us through the pros and cons, referring to the three stages of generational change proposed by Randy Bennett in his forecast on the future of large-scale educational assessment, published in 1998. Even ten years on, we are some way off Bennett's "Generation 'R' Tests (Reinvention)". Yes, assessment is being "administered at a distance" and it does "use complex simulations, including virtual reality". But, can we really say that assessment is "integrated with instruction (teaching)" and "designed according to cognitive principles"?

Helen went on to talk us through how paper-based assessment questions had been converted for delivery online. There were quite a few examples from maths (she is a mathematician afterall!) but it all served to demonstrate that we need to remember to look at comparability, and Helen gave an overview of various comparison studies. Cliff and Helen's presentation is available as a pdf.

The first presentation at the CETIS event concerned forthcoming calls for studies from JISC. One of these was described as a mixed methods study regarding the 'Quality of e-Assessment'. It was suggested that it is intended to address some of the "deep-rooted concerns" regarding quality amongst those sceptical of e-Assessment. It sounds as those members of the eAA are already working in this area.

Labels: assessment, conference, education, elearning, futures, organisation

The REAP07 conference site will be archived and made publicly available in the near future. In the meantime you can register to view conference material on the existing conference website. If you would like to be kept informed about publication of conference material please contact Inspire Research.

Labels: assessment, conference, online conference, REAP project

The REAP 07 online conference came to a close on the 31st May, with a very lively panel session on Sharing responsibility for assessment: reflections on the conference.

We have been delighted by the interest shown in the conference, with 400 delegates from over 46 countries attending and some great key note speakers and case study authors, all contributing to make a really interesting and successful online event.

As conference organisers from Inspire Research Ltd, we have worked with the REAP team to design the format and structure of the conference. Inspire Research Ltd played a key role in taking the idea forward – planning the organisation of the conference and the bespoke online environment. This has included creating the case study template, tracking submissions, keeping everyone informed and up to date (including authors, facilitators, keynotes, panellist and moderators), scheduling the programme, building the conference structure online, keeping everything on track during the conference, preparing the conference updates, and much more behind the scenes.

Having seen the interest generated by the REAP conference, I’m sure you can appreciate the value and opportunities presented by this kind of online event. If you would like to talk through the implications and consider whether this would work for you please do contact us. We can advise on all aspects of hosting your own online event.

Remember that all the case studies, forums and chat sessions can still be accessed at the REAP07 conference webstite.

Labels: assessment, conference, online conference, REAP project

We are pleased to announce that Inspire Research Ltd are the conference organisers for the REAP International Online Conference. The conference is part of the Re-engineering Assessment Practices (REAP) project, a £1m initiative funded by the Scottish Funding Council under its e-Learning Transformation initiative. REAP is a collaborative project involving the University of Strathclyde, University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian University.

This entirely online conference will address "Assessment design for learner responsibility", with three themes focusing on:

• Assessment and the first year experience;
• Great designs for assessment; and
• Institutional strategies (designs) for assessment.

Over 60 case studies were submitted to the call for submissions, which closed last month. The conference will include keynote presentations, expert facilitator led discussion of case studies, panel sessions, and more. The programme is currently being finalised, with details due to be released early in May. The conference itself will run from the 29th to the 31st May 2007 with reading time beforehand.

For more information, please visit the conference website or contact us at reapconference@inspire-research.co.uk.

Labels: assessment, conference, online conference, REAP project