A classroom-based investigation into the potential of a computer-mediated criterion-referenced test as an evaluation instrument for the assessment of primary end user spreadsheet skills
- Authors: Benn, Kenneth Robert Andrew
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: Education -- Data processing Electronic spreadsheets Criterion-referenced tests Educational tests and measurements
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1447 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003328
- Description: The demand for innovative end users of information technology is increasing along with the proliferation of computer equipment within the workplace. This has resulted in increasing demands being made upon educational institutions responsible for the education of computer end users. The demands placed upon the teachers are particularly high. Large class groups and limited physical resources make the task especially difficult. One of the most time consuming, yet important, tasks is that of student evaluation. To effectively assess the practical work of information technology students requires intensive study of the storage media upon which the students'efforts have been saved. The purpose of this study was to assess the suitability of criterion-referenced testing techniques applied to the evaluation of end user computing students. Objective questions were administered to the students using Question Mark, a computer-managed test delivery system which enabled quick and efficient management of scoring and data manipulation for empirical analysis. The study was limited to the classroom situation and the assessment of primary spreadsheet skills. In order to operate within these boundaries, empirical techniques were used which enabled the timeous analysis of the students' test results. The findings of this study proved to be encouraging. Computer-mediated criterion-referenced testing techniques were found to be sufficiently reliable for classroom practice when used to assess primary spreadsheet skills. The validation of the assessment technique proved to be problematic because of the constraints imposed by normal classroom practice as well as the lack of an established methodology for evaluating spreadsheet skills. However, sufficient evidence was obtained to warrant further research aimed at assessing the use of computer-mediated criterion-referenced tests to evaluate information technology end user learning in situations beyond the boundaries of the classroom, such as a national certification examination.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Benn, Kenneth Robert Andrew
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: Education -- Data processing Electronic spreadsheets Criterion-referenced tests Educational tests and measurements
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1447 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003328
- Description: The demand for innovative end users of information technology is increasing along with the proliferation of computer equipment within the workplace. This has resulted in increasing demands being made upon educational institutions responsible for the education of computer end users. The demands placed upon the teachers are particularly high. Large class groups and limited physical resources make the task especially difficult. One of the most time consuming, yet important, tasks is that of student evaluation. To effectively assess the practical work of information technology students requires intensive study of the storage media upon which the students'efforts have been saved. The purpose of this study was to assess the suitability of criterion-referenced testing techniques applied to the evaluation of end user computing students. Objective questions were administered to the students using Question Mark, a computer-managed test delivery system which enabled quick and efficient management of scoring and data manipulation for empirical analysis. The study was limited to the classroom situation and the assessment of primary spreadsheet skills. In order to operate within these boundaries, empirical techniques were used which enabled the timeous analysis of the students' test results. The findings of this study proved to be encouraging. Computer-mediated criterion-referenced testing techniques were found to be sufficiently reliable for classroom practice when used to assess primary spreadsheet skills. The validation of the assessment technique proved to be problematic because of the constraints imposed by normal classroom practice as well as the lack of an established methodology for evaluating spreadsheet skills. However, sufficient evidence was obtained to warrant further research aimed at assessing the use of computer-mediated criterion-referenced tests to evaluate information technology end user learning in situations beyond the boundaries of the classroom, such as a national certification examination.
- Full Text:
Social constructivist mathematics education in a Ciskeian secondary school classroom
- Authors: Raghavan, Prasannakumary
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Curricula -- South Africa -- Ciskei -- Case studies Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Ciskei
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1767 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003652
- Description: The researcher's experience as a high school mathematics teacher in several African countries convinced her that a good number of mathematics learners exhibit serious difficulties in conceptualising mathematics properly. Her experience in teaching the subject in the Ciskei since 1990 reinforced this conviction. The researcher's natural curiosity to probe into the causes of the poor state of mathematics education in the region served as the springboard into her investigation. Her thoughts developed in line with the emerging educational theories of social constructivism. This provided a conceptual framework for the solution of the problem, the feasibility of which was put to test practically in a Ciskeian classroom. She explicates that the difficulties experienced by the pupils in conceptualising mathematics are philosophically deep rooted and latent in the present system of mathematics education itself, which, in Ciskei, impedes the learners' conceptualisation owing to numerous problems related to their linguistic and cultural situatedness. In the analysis of the present system of mathematics education in the Ciskei she reviews a few recently published mathematics text books in the context of the topics chosen for her research study. The results of her classroom investigation establish that a possible solution to the problem lies in the social constructivist teaching approaches.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Raghavan, Prasannakumary
- Date: 1994
- Subjects: Mathematics -- Curricula -- South Africa -- Ciskei -- Case studies Mathematics -- Study and teaching (Secondary) -- South Africa -- Ciskei
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1767 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003652
- Description: The researcher's experience as a high school mathematics teacher in several African countries convinced her that a good number of mathematics learners exhibit serious difficulties in conceptualising mathematics properly. Her experience in teaching the subject in the Ciskei since 1990 reinforced this conviction. The researcher's natural curiosity to probe into the causes of the poor state of mathematics education in the region served as the springboard into her investigation. Her thoughts developed in line with the emerging educational theories of social constructivism. This provided a conceptual framework for the solution of the problem, the feasibility of which was put to test practically in a Ciskeian classroom. She explicates that the difficulties experienced by the pupils in conceptualising mathematics are philosophically deep rooted and latent in the present system of mathematics education itself, which, in Ciskei, impedes the learners' conceptualisation owing to numerous problems related to their linguistic and cultural situatedness. In the analysis of the present system of mathematics education in the Ciskei she reviews a few recently published mathematics text books in the context of the topics chosen for her research study. The results of her classroom investigation establish that a possible solution to the problem lies in the social constructivist teaching approaches.
- Full Text:
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