1. Joint Information Systems Committee 4/1/2014 | | Slide 1 Joint Information Systems CommitteeSupporting education and research JISC Conference 2006 OpenMentor Sponsored by

2. Joint Information Systems Committee Sponsored by Presenter Details 4/1/2014 | | Slide 2 OpenMentor: Opening tutors eyes to the written support given to students on their assignments Denise Whitelock, The Open University. d.m.whitelock@open.ac.uk Stuart Watt, Robert Gordon University s.n.k.watt@rgu.ac.uk

3. Joint Information Systems Committee 4/1/2014 | | Slide 3 What is OpenMentor? An open source mentoring tool for tutors –Open source = free and easy to use, and to embed in an institutions infrastructure and working practices –mentoring = designed to help people learn how to give feedback effectively, through reflection and social networks –tutors = primarily intended for teaching staff, but with clear applications for those involved in quality

4. Joint Information Systems Committee 4/1/2014 | | Slide 4 How does it work? Codes comments into Bales categories Four main groupings –A. Positive reactions –B. Directing/teaching –C. Questions –D. Negative reactions

5. Joint Information Systems Committee 4/1/2014 | | Slide 5 Coding the comments

6. Joint Information Systems Committee 4/1/2014 | | Slide 6 Does OpenMentor model the way tutors comment on assignments? Data derived from OU courses Categories: –A = positive reactions –B = attempted answers –C = questions –D = negative reactions A, B, C correlations all statistically significant This forms an implicit model of good practice in tutor feedback

7. Joint Information Systems Committee 4/1/2014 | | Slide 7 Does OpenMentor work in the way tutors and students expect? 46 students and 44 tutors responded to a questionnaire to test OMs underlying tutorial model Findings suggest: –Lower grades should attract more detailed comments and explanation by the tutor (students) –Higher grades should attract more positive comments (students and tutors) –Lower grades attract more questions and suggestions (tutors) Model supported by pedagogical study

8. Joint Information Systems Committee 4/1/2014 | | Slide 8 How Open Mentor handles comments Good work Yes, well done Yes, but is this useful? Can you explain what you mean This does not follow A = positive reactions B = attempted answers, and not a positive reaction C = questions D = negative reactions

9. Joint Information Systems Committee 4/1/2014 | | Slide 9 OpenMentor in action Demonstration

10. Joint Information Systems Committee 4/1/2014 | | Slide 10 Inside Open Mentor Course info Assess- ments ClassifierExtractor Analyser Web interface Bench- marks

11. Joint Information Systems Committee 4/1/2014 | | Slide 11 Current and future developments Embedding in institutional practice Enhancing quality of first year provision Links to VLEs and information systems Spinning out components –Word text extraction (Apache POI) Uptake of open source –Maven, Spring, Subversion, Hibernate Further development –Support for students, course evaluation, etc…