Two papers accepted at the World Conference on Computers in Education (preprints available)

These two papers were recently accepted for presentation/publication at the IFIP World Conference on Computers in Education, in Bento Gonçalves-RS, Brazil, July 27-31, 2009:

• Kern VM, Possamai O, Selig PM, Pacheco RCS, Souza GC, Rautenberg S, Lemos RTS. Growing a Peer Review Culture among Graduate Students. Full paper (10 p.)
  Abstract: Usual processes for pursuing education excellence in a graduate program are candidate selection, coursework, research, and thesis defense. In this paper, we present a complementary approach: the growing of a peer review culture among graduate students. We instruct first-year masters’ and doctoral students on principles for preparing a thesis proposal. Students present their proposals in collective discussion sessions with feedback from professors. The students then submit their proposals through a web interface and are instructed on the role they will play next – of anonymous referees of their peers’ proposals. The referee reports and general statistics are made available to all participating students and advisors. Updated proposals are submitted to an annual workshop open to all participating students and advisors. About 60 students take part in this annual series of seminars with peer review and workshop, generating 60 theses proposals and about 180 referee reports, 3 for each proposal. Students and their advisors receive detailed feedback on individual participation as author and referee. The main strength of the experience is the opportunity to assimilate the techniques of objective criticism and to reflect about the quality of own and others’ work. The paper also outlines research and development issues related to our effort to enhance the peer review culture among graduate students.
  
• Kern VM, Saraiva LM, Braz ERC. Emergo: Academic Performance Assessment and Planning with a Data Mart. Short paper (5 p.)
  Abstract: National-level, objective assessment in higher education has been a practice in Brazil since 1996, surviving political shifts that frequently dismantle public policies. This paper presents the Emergo Project – the assessment of Psychology students using a data mart with multiple-choice questions from national exams and students’ answers. We run two annual examinations, giving individual feedback and discussing aggregate results with faculty and students. We identified patterns for the evolution of correct answers across semester enrolled – Growing, Decreasing, Peak, Constant, and Other. Actual results in the national exam suggest that the feedback and discussions might have helped achieving superior performance standards.

The first one discusses our approach of first-year masters and doctorate students peer review of thesis proposals at EGC/UFSC. The second is an account of a project conducted at Univali (Biguaçu-SC), in which Psychology students were assessed using questions from national exams, with a strong participation of students and professors in discussions about aggregate results.

Both versions are preprints - the final version will probably contain edits (and might be copyrighted).