Magister Educationis - MEd / The test context is of paramount importance in language testing as it provides an understanding of the kind of tasks to be included in the test, how these tasks are executed by the test takers and how they can be efficiently administered. The objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which the context of the DR Congo English state examination (ESE) is valid and to come out with some useful suggestions that are likely to improve its validity. Two basic theories, the modern validity theory and the schema theory, informed this study. Weir's (2005) socio-cognitive framework was used to build the validity argument for the evaluation of the English state examination. A mixed method was used where the research design consisted of the combination of both qualitative and quantitative data during the collection and analysis stages. The content document analysis method was used to examine the content of the different state examination papers so as to identify the main features of the test, and the statistic (descriptive) method was used to quantify observations identified in the state examination papers and to evaluate the context validity of the ESE. Three techniques were used to collect the research data: the questionnaire, the test, and the interview. Three main findings of this study were reported: (1) the conditions under which the ESE tasks are performed and the relevance of these tasks to the test domain and characteristics are still far to contribute to the quality of evaluation of high school finalist students; (2) the extent to which the ESE includes tasks that take into consideration the nature of information in the text as well as the knowledge required for completing the task is globally good; (3) the conditions under which the test takes place are poor and these conditions affect the validity of test scores. The study recommends the test developers to approximate test tasks to those students have been exposed to in classroom situations and those they are likely to encounter in real life. It also recommends all the people involved in the administration of the test to adhere to high ethical standards. / South Africa

In this study, I investigate how successful provided response questions, such as multiple choice questions, are as an assessment format compared to the conventional constructed response questions. Based on the literature on mathematics assessment, I firstly identify an assessment taxonomy, consisting of seven mathematics assessment components, ordered by cognitive levels of difficulty and cognitive skills. I then develop a theoretical framework, for determining the quality of a question, with respect to three measuring criteria: discrimination index, confidence index and expert opinion. The theoretical framework forms the foundation against which I construct the Quality Index (QI) model for measuring how good a mathematics question is. The QI model gives a quantitative value to the quality of a question. I also give a visual representation of the quality of a question in terms of a radar plot. I illustrate the use of the QI model for quantifying the quality of mathematics questions in a particular undergraduate mathematics course, in both of the two assessment formats – provided response questions (PRQs) and constructed response questions (CRQs). I then determine which of the seven assessment components can best be assessed in the PRQ format and which can best be assessed in the CRQ format. In addition I also investigate student preferences between the two assessment formats. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Mathematics and Applied Mathematics / unrestricted

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This thesis tries to answer the question what impact on the results in Mathematical Kangaroo competition has inclusion of specific curriculum into the School Education Program. The work focuses on multiple-choice type of tasks, where pupils fall short of success. Pupils can meet such tasks in mathematical competitions and research. The work is divided into theoretical and empirical part. The first part, makes readers familiar with current situation regarding mathematical competitions in Czech environment and defines terms related to the issue. It also characterizes selected competitions in which primary school pupils are involved, and focuses more on competition Mathematical Kangaroo. The empirical part describes methodology of qualitative research, aimed to verify the effect of inclusion specific curriculum in mathematics into the School Education Program on results of competition Mathematical Kangaroo. In this section two surveys are processed and analyzed, that took place during the school years 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 at complete primary school. The surveys were based on an analysis of tasks from competition Mathematical Kangaroo, analysis of textbooks, School Education Program and other school documents. Further there were conducted semi structured interviews with teachers and pupils, which...

Growing knowledge in the field of cognitive science can significantly improve the way we learn. Several methods and principles are being repeatedly confirmed by numerous studies as effective for learning. They include spaced repetition, test-enhanced learning, and desirable difficulty principle. With the continual spreading of ICT technologies, diverse software is being developed as well, some of which more and some of which less successfully employs the methods and principles outlined. Memrise, Purpose Games and Drill and Skill, web platforms which are examined in this thesis, belong to this software family. In the first phase, i conducted several interviews with teachers who were using Drill and Skill as part of their science teaching at elementary schools and a junior grammar school (all of them were teaching children approx. 11-15 years old). After this, i worked with a class from a grammar school (age around 16). i made several groups of educational games to help the students practice the topics studied in their biology lessons. Each group of games was reviewed during a group interview. Recordings from these interviews as well as from the interviews with the teachers were transcribed and these transcripts underwent qualitative analysis, which is an important part of the thesis. Drawing on all...

The main aim of this diploma thesis is to find out, if the level of knowledge of German language at pupils at basic schools in the Czech Republic is increasing, stagnating or decreasing and what factors influence their results. In the theoretic part I am going to deal with testing of pupils in Europe and in the Czech Republic. After that there is introduced a list of all standard assessment tests of German language on level A1 and A2. Then there are compared standard assessment tests ?Fit in Deutsch? and ?Start Deutsch? with the tests of Czech School Inspection from 2012/2013. In the research part I focus on the development of pupils? knowledge of German language at basic schools. The research is based on the assigned tests from 2007, 2010 and 2013. On the basis of these tests and filled questionnaires I am trying to find answers on the set research questions and to check correctness of the set hypotheses or alternatively to find other factors that influence pupils? knowledge of German language.

Academics encounter problems with the selection, evaluation, testing and implementation of e-assessment software tools. The researcher experienced these problems while adopting e-assessment at the university where she is employed. Hence she undertook this study, which is situated in schools and departments in Computing-related disciplines, namely Computer Science, Information Systems and Information Technology at South African Higher Education Institutions. The literature suggests that further research is required in this domain. Furthermore, preliminary empirical studies indicated similar disabling factors at other South African tertiary institutions, which were barriers to long-term implementation of e-assessment. Despite this, academics who are adopters of e-assessment indicate satisfaction, particularly when conducting assessments with large classes. Questions of the multiple choice genre can be assessed automatically, leading to increased productivity and more frequent assessments. The purpose of this research is to develop an evaluation framework to assist academics in determining which e-assessment tool to adopt, enabling them to make more informed decisions. Such a framework would also support evaluation of existing e-assessment systems. The underlying research design is action research, which supported an iterative series of studies for developing, evaluating, applying, refining, and validating the SEAT (Selecting and Evaluating an e-Assessment Tool) Evaluation Framework and subsequently an interactive electronic version, e-SEAT. Phase 1 of the action research comprised Studies 1 to 3, which established the nature, context and extent of adoption of e-assessment. This set the foundation for development of SEAT in Phase 2. During Studies 4 to 6 in Phase 2, a rigorous sequence of evaluation and application facilitated the transition from the manual SEAT Framework to the electronic evaluation instrument, e-SEAT, and its further evolution. This research resulted in both a theoretical contribution (SEAT) and a practical contribution (e-SEAT). The findings of the action research contributed, along with the literature, to the categories and criteria in the framework, which in turn, contributed to the bodies of knowledge on MCQs and e-assessment. The final e-SEAT version, the ultimate product of this action research, is presented in Appendix J1. For easier reference, the Appendices are included on a CD, attached to the back cover of this Thesis.. / Computing / PhD. (Information Systems)

Active learning has been suggested to be more effective than traditional learning in terms of exam results and time spent on the course material, making it an attractive alternative to the traditional lectures. One way of practicing active learning is through active learnersourcing, a method of learning that also generates material that contributes to further learning. Learnersourcing can be practiced by generating multiple choice questions (MCQs) related to the course material. However, generating useful and high-quality MCQs is challenging for students, especially since the available digital systems developed for this purpose have great issues in terms of user-friendliness and their outdated visual design. Two of these systems are RiPPLE and PeerWise. When developing a platform designed for generating MCQs for learning, there are general and specific guidelines that can be followed: Nielsen’s 10 heuristics for a good user interface/user experience, and 10 principles for a good MCQ. In this thesis, a new system was developed where these guidelines were applied, as an attempt to investigate if the user experience can be improved compared to the currently available interfaces RiPPLE and PeerWise. The project was named MyCleverQuestion. A user test was conducted, in which the three systems’ interfaces for creating and submitting a question were compared and graded. The results shows that the users had the best experience when using MyCleverQuestion. 83.3% of the users said they would use MyCleverQuestion again, stressing the importance of both a good user interface and user experience. / Aktivt lärande har visat sig vara effektivare än traditionellt lärande i avseende till tentamensresultat och tid studenter spenderar på kursmaterialet, och är således ett attraktivt alternativ till de traditionella föreläsningarna. Ett sätt att utöva aktivt lärande är genom att skapa flervalsfrågor kopplade till kursmaterialet. Denna metod kallas aktiv learnersourcing och gör att man genom lärandet även bidrar med material som kan användas för vidare lärande. Det är dock svårt för studenter att skapa högkvalitativa och användbara flervalsfrågor med hjälp av de digitala system som utvecklats för detta syfte, då deras användarvänlighet är bristande och visuella utformning är föråldrade. RiPPLE och PeerWise är två system utvecklade för att skapa flervalsfrågor i utbildningssyfte, och har båda användarvänlighetsproblem. Det finns särskilda riktlinjer som kan följas för att utveckla ett system där studenter kan generera flervalsfrågor för att utöva aktivt lärande. I denna uppsats har både generella och specifika riktlinjer använts: 10 generella heuristiska principer för att skapa en bra användarupplevelse och användargränssnitt, samt 10 principer för att skapa en bra flervalsfrågas, för att slutligen undersöka om användarupplevelsen kan förbättras jämfört med RiPPLE och PeerWise. Namnet som valdes för projektet var MyCleverQuestion. En användarundersökning genomfördes, där gränssnittet för att skapa en fråga för varje system utvärderades. Resultatet visar att gränssnittet med bäst användarupplevelse är MyCleverQuestion. 83,3% av användarna angav att de skulle använda MyCleverQuestion igen, vilket bevisar vikten av ett bra gränssnitt.

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