The role of culture in enabling or constraining the use of technology in higher education teaching and learning: the Commerce Curriculum Project
- Authors: Mostert, Markus , Snowball, Jeanette D , Boughey, Chrissie
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: conference paper , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61073 , vital:27945
- Description: This paper draws on a project located in one faculty at a South African university which aimed to use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to enhance teaching and learning. More specifically, the paper uses Archer’s (1995, 1996, 2000, 1998) ‘analytical dualism’ and ‘morphogenesis’ to explore the way individuals involved in the project were able to exercise agency in departments which were relatively hostile to the goals they were aiming to pursue despite the wider cultural domain encompassing many ideas which construct the use of ICTs as significant in promoting student learning. The paper thus contributes to the culture/agency subtheme of the HECU6 conference. The paper begins by providing some background to the project before moving on to an exploration of the way Archer’s theoretical work was used to analyse data collected by project leaders.
- Full Text:
Where angels fear to tread: online peer-assessment in a large first-year class
- Authors: Mostert, Markus , Snowball, Jeanette D
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69289 , vital:29480 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2012.683770
- Description: In the context of widening participation, large classes and increased diversity, assessment of student learning is becoming increasingly problematic in that providing formative feedback aimed at developing student writing proves to be particularly laborious. Although the potential value of peer assessment has been well documented in the literature, the associated administrative burden, also in relation to managing anonymity and intellectual ownership, makes this option less attractive, particularly in large classes. A potential solution involves the use of information and communication technologies to automate the logistics associated with peer assessment in a time-efficient way. However, uptake of such systems in the higher education community is limited, and research in this area is only beginning. This case study reports on the use of the Moodle Workshop module for formative peer assessment of students’ individual work in a first-year introductory macro-economics class of over 800 students. Data were collected through an end-of-course evaluation survey of students. The study found that using the feature-rich Workshop module not only addressed many of the practical challenges associated with paper-based peer assessments, but also provided a range of additional options for enhancing validity and reliability of peer assessments that would not be possible with paper-based systems.
- Full Text: false