Improving Undergraduate Computing Education through Virtual Peer Instruction in Interactive Ebooks

通过交互式电子书中的虚拟同伴教学改善本科计算机教育

• 批准号: 2043207
• 负责人: Barbara Ericson
• 金额: $ 29.73万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-05-01 至 2025-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2043207&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Improving; Undergraduate; Computing; Education; through

This project aims to serve the national interest by investigating the use of Peer Instruction in a virtual learning environment. Decades of research have provided evidence that Peer Instruction improves student learning and engagement. However, thus far all research on Peer Instruction has been done in a face-to-face lecture setting. Many computing instructors are adopting interactive ebooks, which have the benefit of containing executable code and practice problems with immediate feedback. This project will leverage such interactive ebooks to increase the adoption of Peer Instruction by designing, building, and testing a system that will serve Peer Instruction questions in interactive ebooks. Research on this implementation of Peer Instruction has the potential to improve the number and diversity of students who succeed in STEM undergraduate courses, a goal that aligns with NSF's efforts to enhance and improve STEM education in the United States.The new Peer Instruction application, called Peer+, will leverage free ebooks for pre-lecture reading and reading assessment. The system will mine existing ebooks and public question banks to identify Peer Instruction questions. The Peer+ system will be used to investigate: 1) the effect of synchronous and asynchronous online peer discussion on learning and student satisfaction; 2) the effect of Peer Instruction on retention of knowledge up to a month later; 3) the effect of Peer+ on student retention, especially for underrepresented students; and 4) how instructor attitudes and knowledge change due to a workshop and use of Peer+. A design-based research approach will be used, based on social constructivism and expectancy-value theory. The research is designed to both contribute to theory and also test the system in real educational settings. Both qualitative and quantitative research measures will be used to evaluate the impact of Peer+ use. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目旨在通过调查在虚拟学习环境中同伴指导的使用，为国家利益服务。几十年的研究提供了证据，证明同伴指导可以提高学生的学习和参与度。然而，到目前为止，所有关于同伴指导的研究都是在面对面的讲座环境中进行的。许多计算机教师正在采用交互式电子书，它的好处是包含可执行代码和实践问题，并提供即时反馈。该项目将通过设计、构建和测试一个系统来为互动电子书中的同伴教学问题提供服务，从而利用这种互动电子书来增加同伴教学的采用。对这种同伴指导实施的研究有可能提高STEM本科课程成功学生的数量和多样性，这一目标与美国国家科学基金会加强和改善美国STEM教育的努力相一致。新的同伴指导应用程序，称为同伴+，将利用免费的电子书进行课前阅读和阅读评估。该系统将挖掘现有的电子书和公共题库来识别同伴指导问题。本研究将使用Peer+系统来研究：1)同步和异步在线同伴讨论对学习和学生满意度的影响；2)同伴指导对一个月后知识记忆的影响；3) Peer+对学生保留率的影响，特别是对代表性不足的学生；4)教师的态度和知识如何因研讨会和Peer+的使用而改变。本研究将采用基于设计的研究方法，以社会建构主义和期望价值理论为基础。该研究旨在为理论提供支持，并在实际教育环境中测试该系统。将使用定性和定量研究措施来评估Peer+使用的影响。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。