Abstract:
Our exploratory study examines the benefits of student-lecturer partnerships in course design at a university level. This project is situated within a larger design research project investigating a blended learning intervention in a stage II service mathematics course. A mathematics Lecturer and a Student entering postgraduate mathematics study both independently composed questions for online prelecture quizzes related to the calculus section of the course. Utilising Schoenfeld’s (2010) theory of goal-oriented decision making, we unpack the complexity of the design process by examining the three fundamental factors: Resources, Orientations and Goals (R/O/G). Using this theoretical lens, we interpret the results of the study by accounting for the differences between the Lecturer’s and the Student’s quiz questions through an analysis of their R/O/Gs. Our findings suggest that interpreting the differences in question construction provides insight into student learning of mathematics from both student and lecturer perspectives as well as how students engage with blended learning resources. The systematic approach that we describe, utilising the R/O/G framework for an analysis of the design process, can be used for developing and refining the assessment by other student-lecturer partnerships in other educational settings.