Browsing by Author "Cowie B"

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    An Ecological Approach to Understanding Assessment for Learning in Support of Student Writing Achievement
    (Frontiers Media S.A, 2018-02-23) Cowie B; Khoo E
    In this paper, we report on a project conducted in a New Zealand primary school that aimed to enhance the writing achievement of primary school boys who were achieving just below the national standard for their age or level through the use of peer feedback and information and communication technologies (ICTs). The project involved a teacher collaborative inquiry approach where all seven teachers in the school and the school principal participated to achieve the project aim. We adopt an ecological approach as a lens to offer a holistic and comprehensive view of how peer assessment and use of ICTs can be facilitated to improve writing achievement. Data were collected through teacher interviews and written reflections of practice and student learning, teacher analysis of student work, team meeting notes, classroom observations, and student focus group interviews. Findings from the thematic analysis of textual data illustrate the potential of adopting an ecological approach to consider how teacher classroom practices are shaped by the school, community, and wider policy context. At the classroom level, our ecological analysis highlighted a productive synergy between commonplace writing pedagogy strategies and assessment for learning (AfL) practices as part of teacher orchestration of an ensemble of interdependent routines, tools, and activities. Diversity, redundancy, and local adaptations of resources to provide multiple pathways and opportunities—social and material and digital—emerged as important in fostering peer assessment and ICT use in support of writing achievement. Importantly, these practices were made explicit and taken up across the school and in the parent community because of whole staff involvement in the project. The wider policy context allowed for and supported teachers developing more effective pedagogy to impact student learning outcomes. We propose that an ecological orientation offers the field a productive insight into the contextual dynamics of AfL as classroom practice that is connected to the wider community and that has long-term value for developing student independence and learning outcomes.
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    Fostering project management competencies in undergraduate engineering: An exploration of the use of management- educated tutors as coaches in problem-based learning
    (Engineers Australia, 2018-12-09) Khoo E; Scott J; McKie D; Cowie B
    CONTENT Problem-based learning (PBL) helps engineering graduates develop the competencies needed in order to engage effectively with complex and uncertain workplace demands. PBL’s effectiveness, however, also depends on students having the ability to manage themselves and to work collaboratively. As these professional competencies are not typically the focus of undergraduate engineering programmes, students tend to complete problem-based project work through their own initiatives without the skills relevant to project completion. On the other hand, project management competencies are commonly explicated and core in business and management disciplines. PURPOSE This paper reports on our project which addresses the research question: What is the impact of utilising a management-educated demonstrator to work with engineering students on their learning and development of project management competencies? APPROACH Our project intervention required students in a fourth-year advanced engineering problem-based course to regularly report their planning and project progress to a graduate management tutor (demonstrator manager). A third of the course marks was awarded by the tutor who provided business-informed coaching as feedback during each report planning session. Multiple forms of data were collected – pre-and post-course surveys, student focus group interviews, lecturer and tutor interviews and student formative and summative grades. RESULTS The findings highlighted that: (1) Students did gain a better understanding of key aspects of project management; (2) Students were generally supportive of the technique, but wanted more “introduction”, exposing their naivete where grading on management was concerned; (3) The approach could foster more Engineering-Management collaboration at a university; (4) The approach supports the accreditation goal of developing engineering graduates’ professional competencies related to management skills. CONCLUSIONS Given the multiple and complex challenges facing 21st-century society, engineering employers are increasingly seeking graduates who are both technical experts in their field and able to work with experts from other fields, including business and management. Our project contributes understandings on how interdisciplinary initiatives can develop such professional competencies that are important for engineering graduate work-readiness.