Paul Denny
Title of Keynote Lecture: Reflections on student-generated questions: utilising the generation, testing and self-explanation effect.
Abstract:
Most instructors are familiar with how challenging it is to create good multiple-choice questions with plausible alternative answers. But what happens when students generate their own questions, targeting the material they are learning, and contribute them to a shared repository where they can be answered, rated and discussed by their peers? It turns out there are many interesting answers to this question.
This talk will present the pedagogical motivations for having students build and moderate their own repository of questions using the PeerWise web-based tool. The repository serves not only as a drill-and-test library that students can use for practice, but also as a creative medium for engaging students in critical reflection and deep learning.
A brief overview of PeerWise will be given, illustrated with examples of genuine student contributions and case studies of its use in practice. A summary of existing research will also be presented, and the talk will conclude with a look to the future.
After Paul Denny´s keynote lecture, one of the parallel sessions offered will be a workshop which he will lead.
Title of Workshop:
Hands-on with PeerWise: the free student-generated MCQ platform (Attendees should have access to a network-enabled laptop or device with keyboard. Time 90 minutes).
Abstract:
PeerWise is a free, simple to use web-based tool that enables students to work with their peers to construct, share, evaluate, answer and discuss a repository of assessment questions relevant to their course. Evaluation of the quality of the contributed items, the generation of peer feedback, and the use of the resource for practice brings in elements of both peer and self assessment.
By leveraging the creativity and energy of a class, a large, diverse and rich resource can be created without placing any burden of supervision on the instructor.
PeerWise is used at 1000 universities and schools around the world and hosts more than a million questions with associated explanations and discussions, and tens of millions of student answers. This workshop will give a practical, hands-on introduction to PeerWise and offer strategies for implementing PeerWise in your own classroom.
Bio
Paul Denny teaches in the department of Computer Science at The University of Auckland, and his research interests focus on developing and evaluating technologies for supporting collaborative learning, particularly involving student-authored resources.
Paul is a recipient of the National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award (2009), the Australasian Association for Engineering Education Award for innovation in curricula, learning and teaching (2009) and the Computing Research and Education Association of Australasia Teaching Award (2010).
His recent publications have examined the effectiveness of virtual achievements for motivating students in online environments and investigated the effectiveness of various styles of error reporting on the performance of novice programming students.
