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Showing posts from May, 2024

Canvas: Speedgrader can now randomize the order of the student submissions

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Instructure Canvas Speedgrader has gained the option to randomize the order in which student submissions appear. For those unfamiliar with the Speedgrader options, the options are available by clicking on the gear wheel at the upper left in Speedgrader. Options are the first item on the menu. The checkbox hides student names in the Speedgrader which can allow for anonymous grading - unless the students are putting their names on their submissions.  The drop down menu includes the new randomize students option. While I haven't tried combining Hide student names in the SpeedGrader with randomize students, I expect that the combination could be useful to avoid some types of marking fatigue and bias. Setting choices in the Options menu are local to the browser and machine on which you made the setting choice. These settings are retained between sessions when using the same browser on the same device. To change the settings, go back into the Options. The gear wheel also provides access

Tests don't test except when they do

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With the transition to online courses many instructors seek to recreate the conditions of residential class quizzes, tests, and examinations. Instructors may deploy time limits to mimic residential class assessments, deploy lockdown browser software such as Respondus, or require students to sit the assessment while being monitored in real time by video link.  Each escalation in monitoring is an attempt to address a failing in the prior level. Lockdown browser? Student accesses a second device. Hence the step up to video monitoring to see that the student never looks away from the screen. Which can lead to students being unable to go to the restroom when they need to do so. A colleague once said to me, "In online education, tests do not test." Trying to recreate the traditional in-class test experience in an online course is the proverbial attempt to put new wine in an old wineskin. I am reminded of the Princess Leia quote, "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the mor

Physical science lab and affective domain survey

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The physical science laboratory and affective domain survey saw an underwhelming response with only six of twenty students responding. There were fourteen laboratories. Lab 01 Density of soap Lab 02 Velocity of a rolling ball Lab 03 Gravity and the acceleration of a falling ball Lab 04 Conservation of energy with a marble on a banana leaf Lab 05 Force of friction on sandpaper Lab 06 Cooling curve for hot water Lab 07 Conversion factor for arcminutes to meters Lab 08 Geology lab with rocks and minerals Lab 09 Drawing a cloud Lab 10 Speed of sound using resonance and tuning forks Lab 11 Color of light RGB and HSV Lab 12 Reflection in a mirror, refraction and apparent depth under water Lab 13 Ohm's law, resistance, and electrical circuits Lab 14 Floral litmus solutions, acids and bases [Lab 15 Site swap mathematics: no report, not on survey] Every laboratory had someone who liked that laboratory. Density of soap, banana leaf marble ramp, cloud drawing, and the color of light were favo

Student evaluations spring 2024

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Student evaluations of instructor, course, and course materials provide guidance for the institution on areas of relative strengths and areas where there may be room for improvement. Bearing in mind that old data is not usefully actionable data, the intent of this report is to convey broad themes emerging in the evaluations to decision makers as rapidly as possible.  This report presumes familiarity with the student evaluations form in use at the institution. The responses were converted to numeric values: Strongly disagree: 1 Disagree: 2 Neutral: 3 Agree: 4 Strongly agree: 5 Number of student evaluations received Note that the spring 2024 evaluations were still coming in as this report was being written.  By way of comparison, submissions in fall 2023 tapered off once final examinations began. Past experience indicates both that the broad trends in the data are somewhat stable once a few hundred evaluations have been submitted and that submissions will taper significantly once final e

Adding links or images to Nuventive Improve results including charts produced by Instructure Canvas

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In the past under TracDat there was a way to attach a linked document, a URL, as evidence supporting a result posted to TracDat. In Nuventive Improve this can still be done, but the process is a little different. When entering a course student learning outcome result there is a rich text editor available further down the page.  Clicking in the text area below Charts and Graphs activates a rich text content editor. A link can be copied and pasted directly into the editor. Another option that this enables is to include a screenshot of the Instructure Canvas Learning Mastery Gradebook summary chart. One can upload the Canvas learning mastery chart screenshot to Nuventive. This chart comes from the Learning Mastery Gradebook in Canvas which is populated when faculty use outcomes from the institutional bank of course learning outcomes or course learning outcomes they have added to their course: There are steps in this process omitted above. One has to first make a screen shot of the chart i

ESS 101w/O1 Affective domain survey

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An affective domain survey in ESS 101w/O1 Walking for Fitness online sought to explore students' reactions to the course. Twelve of the twenty-two students responded to the survey. The first four questions were multiple choice questions that asked the students to respond to the following prompts: I have enjoyed participating in this walking class. I feel I am more fit as a result of this class. I feel I have the knowledge to continue walking for my fitness after the course is over. I plan to continue walking in the future. The responses were numerically encoded: Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Students enjoyed the class and felt that they gained knowledge. They were less certain that they had gained fitness. There was basic agreement with the statement that they plan to continue walking in the future, but past experience is that few students go on to continue engaging in intentional walking using Strava. While not fully appropriate for interval level d

National campus afternoon start time

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Twenty-two have responded to the national campus afternoon start time survey as of the last day of classes. Responses have come from both campuses. The responses are running seven to three in favor of a return to the former afternoon schedule. Both campuses favor a return to the former afternoon schedule for the national campus. How effective is the current schedule?     Not about the on clock or not schedule but a different topic. I had a 3pm class twice, and most of the time students had to go on the 3.30 bus saying they won’t be able to catch a taxi at 4pm.     Too short to catch up when students have classes in the national campus , then going to CTEC for another class     I only teach morning classes.     Everything is fine     Ok. Except 8:00 am classes.  Only few students show up on time     I don't know.     Moderate     I am not familiar with the class hours at CTEC but I only get a few emails regarding missing the bus to make it on time to class. This mostly comes from my