A SCENARIO-PEDALE
Teachers aim to give instructional support to their students to be able to diagnose their progress and difficulties in learning. Open ended questions, social interdepencies, groupings and supervision by the teachers are some ways of merging diagnosis and learning. As a proposal, peer assessment is intended to integrate into computer-based adaptive diagnostic learning environment. In the article “PEDALE – A Peer Education Diagnostic and Learning Environment” by Konert, J., Richter, K., Mehm, F., Göbel, S., Bruder, R. & Steinmetz, R., (2012) ,although the starting point is math for evaluation, the underlying approach for the model, the implementation details and evaluation setup are identified in detail.
What is tried to be realized with this PEDALE method is creating a digital learning environment that allows the management of diagnostic and educational content and instructional feedback with the help of peer assessment and so closing the gap between diagnosis and learning.
What are some bases for the motivation for PEDALE method? There still remain some conceptual and technical challenges in using software for diagnosis and learning. One of them is Computer Diagnosis Problem that processing and interpreting free text answers, drawings and different solutions of open format questions is still a challenge for computer systems although open format test questions are the most important ones for teachers from a diagnostic point of view. (Prediger et al., 2008 in Konert, J. et al. 2012). The second motivation is called Individual Group Assessment Problem. It is a desire to allow the knowledge sharing without risking precise individual students’ assessment. One another is called Peer Matching Problem in traditional classroom context.Through this model it is desired to create a mix of proficiency level and learning styles in matching the peers working together to attain optimal knowledge exchange. Also, in a computer-based environment , each student can have his own pace and different tasks while sharing knowledge through feedback that is much more dynamic than traditional classroom context. Here is a detailed outline of the scenario proposed:
The proposed system will be used by teachers during classroom instruction to get a detailed diagnosis about their students’ competencies. The students are instructed to use the software within a fixed time period (e.g. 40 minutes, depending on test configuration) to solve the diagnostic tasks, each student at an individual computer. During the time the students work with the software the teacher can monitor as well as participate in the process. With the help of a specific control panel that is activated if a teacher logs into the scenario the teacher can get an overview about the whole classes’ progress as well as over certain events. It provides a filter-based search interface to see answers in the database by student or by task, with or without feedbacks .The teacher can select a particular solution to be displayed like the feedback giving students see it. The teacher can simply look at the given feedbacks as well as give individual feedback to specific students himself. The control panel can slide up and down to overcome overlapping due to screen size restrictions. (Konert, J. et al. 2012, p.29)
ADVANTAGES
1. Besides raising general interest of students in examining peer work (Stepanyan et al., 2009 in Konert, J. et al. 2012) better knowledge acquisition has been shown for computer-supported collaborative work .(Mohammad et al., 2009).
2. Teachers can easily create class-specific e-learning content through the use of an authoring environment (Mehm, 2010 in Konert, J. et al. 2012),
3. A software-based player component provides a way to retrieve data for diagnostic purposes. (http://www.gamedays2012.de)
There still remain some points that have to be worked on more:
1.To increase motivation and flow experiences, with the inclusion of game elements, the scope should be widened. (Konert, J. et al. 2012)
2. A web-based solution needs creation to be used by students not only in the classroom, but also accompanying homework to assess peers’ solutions, receive feedback and develop knowledge together in other social environments. (Konert, J. et al. 2012)
REFERENCES
Konert, J., Richter, K., Mehm, F., Göbel, S., Bruder, R., & Steinmetz, R. (2012). PEDALE - A Peer Education Diagnostic and Learning Environment. Educational Technology & Society, 15 (4), 27–38.
You can also see this page:
http://www.gamedays2012.de/index.php?id=exhibits_gd12&formhandler%5BdetailId%5D=1287
