• A little and often: unanticipated outcomes from an ePortfolio evaluation impacting on early identification of risk and non submission of work

      Lawton, Megan; Purnell, Emma (Aldinhe, 2010-03)
      Since 2005 all staff and students within the University of Wolverhampton have had access to an ePortfolio system - PebblePad. In 2007 the University ran a HEA Pathfinder Project 'embedding ePortfolio at level 1' which involved 1800 level 1 learners and 31 members of staff across all academic schools. The staff development activities used to develop teacher capabilities tried to mirror the student experience to great success. The knowledge gained from this project was then taken into a University-wide impact evaluation. The evaluation identified anticipated and unanticipated outcomes of pedagogic processes for personal development planning (PDP) and e-portfolio development. This paper will deal with two key areas: 1 the early identification of risk and 2 the reduction in non-submission of work. This work now feeds into the University's Blended Learning Strategy (2008). The overarching aims of this strategy are to enhance student learning and to improve each student's learning experience. This is articulated via student entitlements of which the following are directly addressed by this work: All students should be entitled to: formative assessment/s opportunities on line with meaningful electronic assessment feedback; have the opportunity to participate in electronic Personal Development Planning (ePDP); The paper will look at how an ePortfolio system was used to develop learner skills, learner support issues and how staff from a central department worked with discipline-based staff to help support their students, finally addressing institutional strategy and support issues.
    • Assessing Conformance of Manually Simplified Corpora with User Requirements: the Case of Autistic Readers

      Stajner, Sanja.; Dornescu, Iustin; Evans, Richard (Association for Computational Linguistics and Dublin City University, 2014)
      In the state of the art, there are scarce resources available to support development and evaluation of automatic text simplification (TS) systems for specific target populations. These comprise parallel corpora consisting of texts in their original form and in a form that is more accessible for different categories of target reader, including neurotypical second language learners and young readers. In this paper, we investigate the potential to exploit resources developed for such readers to support the development of a text simplification system for use by people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). We analysed four corpora in terms of nineteen linguistic features which pose obstacles to reading comprehension for people with ASD. The results indicate that the Britannica TS parallel corpus (aimed at young readers) and the Weekly Reader TS parallel corpus (aimed at second language learners) may be suitable for training a TS system to assist people with ASD. Two sets of classification experiments intended to discriminate between original and simplified texts according to the nineteen features lent further support for those findings.
    • Developing Preventative Practices: The Experiences of Children, Young People and their families in the Children's Fund

      Evans, Ruth; Pinnock, Katherine; Bierens, Hanne; Edwards, Anne (London: Department for Education and Skills, 2006)
      The Children's Fund was set up in 2000, in part as a catalyst to move forward interagency co-operation and child and family-led preventative services in local authorities. The initiative will run until 2008 and have total funding of £960m over the life of the programme. It is, therefore, part of a long-term strategy aimed at strengthening communities and families as places where children and young people can develop as healthy, responsible and engaged citizens. The initiative targets children and young people aged five to 13 years who are considered to be at risk of social exclusion in 149 partnership arrangements across all 150 local authorities in England. The National Evaluation of the Children's Fund (NECF) was commissioned in late 2002 and ran until March 2006. The NECF was co-ordinated by the University of Birmingham & Institute of Education. The evaluation examined the structures, processes and outcomes of the Children's Fund. The evaluation has generated a series of reports. 'Developing Preventative Practices: The Experiences of Children, Young People and their families in the Children's Fund' aims to address the overarching question of which Children's Fund practices and approaches promote good outcomes for children and young people and support their pathways to inclusion. The report uses the concepts of risk, resilience and protection to understand the responses of children and families to the services provided by the Children's Fund and the immediate impact these services have made on their lives, The report also begins to locate these experiences within some broader notions of social exclusion and inclusion in order to reflect on how learning from the Children's Fund might be taken forward.
    • Developing Responsive Preventative Practices: Key Messages from Children's and Families' Experiences of the Children's Fund

      Pinnock, Katherine; Evans, Ruth (Wiley InterScience, 2008)
      As part of the prevention and social inclusion agenda, the Children's Fund, set up in 2000, has developed preventative services for children at risk of social exclusion. Drawing on a large qualitative dataset of interviews conducted in 2004/05 with children, young people and their parents/carers who accessed Children Fund services, this article analyses key practices and approaches valued by children and parents. These included: specialist support tailored to individual support needs, family-oriented approaches, trusting relationships with service providers, multi-agency approaches and sustainability of services. Finally, the article draws out key lessons for the future development of preventative services. (Blackwell)
    • Devil in the detail: using a pupil questionnaire survey in an evaluation of out-of-school classes for gifted and talented children

      Lambert, Mike (Routledge (Taylor & Francis), 2008)
      The use of questionnaires to evaluate educational initiatives is widespread, but often problematic. This paper examines four aspects of an evaluation survey carried out with very able pupils attending out-of-school classes: ethics, design, bias and interpretation. There is a particular focus on the interpretation and analysis of pupils' answers to open questions. Conclusions are drawn from this analysis which will help teachers and others to take a careful and critical approach to their use of questionnaires in educational evaluation.
    • Embedding information skills on student learning: providing the models

      Bastable, Wendy; Morris, Pamela (University of Wolverhampton, 2007)
      This Phase 3 (evaluation and embedding) project has been developed from a highly successful earlier project: Embedding information skills on student learning: making the difference (2006). The earlier project produced a programme of information literacy skills, based on SCONUL’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which was delivered to two modules of first year students from the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences (HLSS) in bite-sized presentations at the end of their lectures. Importantly, it found that: “an effective Information Literacy programme delivered at the very beginning of Undergraduate life can contribute significantly to students’ ability to find, use and record information and increase their confidence regarding academic performance.” Bastable and Morris (2006). Valued by students, it clearly had a part to play in the learning experience of first year undergraduates and potentially in Schools’ retention and employability strategies. This was the impetus for a Phase 3 project which would test the information literacy programme on a more diverse range of students and subjects within HLSS and provide models which would encourage further take-up within the School and other Schools in the University. Other important outcomes from the previous project also needed to be carried forward and tested in a wider context: “We as librarians have been able to assess our approaches to the design and delivery of a structured Information Literacy programme. We have had the opportunity to work collaboratively as a team of librarians with academic staff and, crucial to the embedding process, earn important space on first semester, first year modules. We now know that the bite-sized sessions of information skills which are dove-tailed into existing lectures are a successful way to deliver the programme.” Bastable and Morris (2006). It was this combination of the following three features in Phase 2 which distinguished it from any other work being conducted in the field of information literacy: the partnership between academics and librarians, a structured information literacy programme and delivery in bite-sized sessions. So, it was these three crucial areas which would be put to the test in this current project by the delivery to an extended range of students.
    • Establishing a standard scientific guideline for the evaluation and adoption of multi-tenant database

      Matthew, Olumuyiwa Oluwafunto (2016)
      A Multi-tenant database (MTD) is a way of deploying a Database as a Service (DaaS). A multi-tenant database refers to a principle where a single instance of a Database Management System (DBMS) runs on a server, serving multiple clients organisations (tenants). This technology has helped to discard the large-scale investments in hardware and software resources, in upgrading them regularly and in expensive licences of application software used on in-house hosted database systems. This is gaining momentum with significant increase in the number of organisations ready to take advantage of the technology. The benefits of MTD are potentially enormous but for any organisation to venture into its adoption, there are some salient factors which must be well understood and examined before venturing into the concept. This research examines these factors, different models of MTD, consider the requirements and challenges of implementing MTDs. Investigation of the degree of impact each of these factors has on the adoption of MTD is conducted in this research which focused mainly on public organisations. The methodology adopted in undertaking this study is a mixed method which involved both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. These strategies are used here to cover statistics (quantifiable data) and experts’ knowledge and experiences (abstract data) in order to satisfactorily achieve the aim and objectives and complete the research. Following the involvement of these strategies, a framework was developed and further refined after a second survey was carried out with a quantitative approach. This framework will help prospective tenants to make informed decisions about the adoption of the concept. The research also considers the direction of decisions about MTDs in situations where two or more factors are combined. A new MTD framework is presented that improves the decision making process of MTD adoption. Also, an Expert System (ES) is developed from the framework which was validated via a survey and analysed with the aid of SPSS software. The findings from the validation indicated that the framework is valuable and suitable for use in practice since majority of respondents accepted the research findings and recommendations for success. Likewise, the ES was validated with majority of participants accepting it and embracing the high level of its friendliness.
    • Evaluation of Specialist Domestic Violence Courts/Fast Track Systems

      Cook, Dee; Burton, Mandy; Robinson, Amanda; Vallely, Christine (Commissioned by the Crown Prosecution Service and the Department for Constitutional Affairs, 2004)
      Overall, our research indicates the notable and positive benefits of Specialist Domestic Violence Courts and Fast Track Systems in three key ways: • Both ‘clustering’ and ‘fast-tracking’ DV cases enhances the effectiveness of court and support services for victims. • Both SDVC and FTS arrangements make advocacy and information-sharing easier to accomplish. • Victim participation and satisfaction is improved and thus public confidence in the CJS is increased. All the courts have created the infrastructure necessary for continued improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency in dealing with domestic violence cases Such courts enable the development of best practice in multi-agency, integrated ways of working that place the victim at the heart of the process.
    • How will this help me? Evaluating an accredited programme to enhance the early professional development of newly qualified teachers

      Rhodes, Christopher; Nevill, Alan M.; Allan, Joanna (Routledge (Taylor & Francis), 2005)
      This article reports on the evaluation of an accredited programme to enhance the early professional development of newly qualified teachers within the Black Country region of the English West Midlands. Newly qualified teachers participating in the accredited programme, their induction tutors, newly qualified teachers not participating in the accredited programme and local education authority officers offer feedback on the successes and shortcomings of the programme. Analysis shows that the programme outcomes are of relevance to newly qualified teacher stakeholders and that the programme is meeting its planned outcomes. It is also shown that the programme is perceived as effective in fostering reflective practice amongst newly qualified teachers, and has impacted positively upon their personal and professional development. There is evidence that the programme offers clear linkage to a vision of early professional development progression beyond the induction period. Gender and sector differences in response to facets of programme choice, helpfulness and support are demonstrated. Difficulties in terms of induction tutor engagement, non-participation and programme management still remain. Potential longer-term benefits to be studied in subsequent cohorts include programme impact on developing teacher identity, professionality, job satisfaction and retention within the profession.
    • The Development of 3D Story Visualiser and Its Evaluation

      Zeng, Xin; Mehdi, Qasim; Gough, Norman (The University of Wolverhampton, School of Computing and Information Technology, 2007)
      The primary goal of this work is to demonstrate that it is possible to create a system that can interpret language descriptions and generate a corresponding virtual environment. This representational transformation is accomplished by implementing real world knowledge and current theories of language and perception. The proposals have been implemented as a prototype system 3D Story Visualiser (3DSV). This paper describes the prototype evaluations and discusses the results obtained from experiments made using the system.