Thesis | Abstract | Defence | Data | Paper | Author
The abstract below is reproduced directly from the thesis and is available as a separate file:
PDF-file with the abstract (in English)
This thesis presents a supplement for the traditional questionnaire surveys in relation to evaluation of the quality of teaching. A model is introduced that, based on an analysis of the course plan and materials, describe and demonstrate how it is possible to objectively assess the degree to which a course attains alignment and balance in relation to the intended learning outcomes of the course.
Alignment pertains to creating a link between the intended learning outcomes of course and its learning activities and evaluation such that the competencies described in the intended learning outcomes are in fact supported by the learning activities and tested in the evaluation. Balance deals with the problems relating to appropriately covering each and every intended learning outcome during both learning and evaluation.
The model is based the course being constructed in accordance with the principle of constructive alignment as proposed by John Biggs. Part of the course construction is the ongoing improvement of quality through transformative reflection and here the model offers to assist the teacher in uncovering which areas are most in need of improvement.
The thesis consists of several parts. After a short description of the background created by previous research, the models are for measuring alignment and balancing are introduced and described. Next, the course Software Architecture is introduced, as it was taught at the Department of Computer Science at University of Aarhus in the fall of 2007, in order to demonstrate how the concrete analysis can be performed and subsequently to illustrate how the results are computed.
