Terry Devere presents on modifying an existing online assessment tool called OASIS for use by high school students. OASIS has been successfully used at the university level for skills practice and assessment in engineering and physics. The tool delivers individualized tasks to students and instantly scores and provides feedback on their responses. It requires only a computer with internet access. Previous research found OASIS enhances student engagement and learning at the university level. The new School OASIS version aims to improve physics skills of incoming engineering students and promote the university's programs. Feedback from teachers and students on School OASIS has been positive. The presentation aims to demonstrate the individualized tasks on OASIS.

1. Presenting Author: TerryDevere
Presenting author’s affiliation: Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. The
University of Auckland
School OASIS: facilitating the transition to university study
This paper describes how a home-grown, Web-based software tool, already used
successfully for skills practice and summative assessment in university-level engineering
and physics, is being modified and evaluated for high-school use. The software package,
OASIS, comprises a large question database and server-side program that delivers
individualized tasks, marks student responses, supplies prompt feedback, and logs student
activity. Because the Web server carries out all processing, students need only a
computer with Internet access and standard browser, making OASIS well suited to
student-centered and flexible learning.
Action research undertaken at the University showed OASIS enhances student
engagement and learning. Given this positive evidence, it was decided to produce a new
version of OASIS (School OASIS) for high-school students, the aims being to improve
physics skills of incoming engineering students and to promote the University’s
engineering courses. Additionally, as appropriate ethical requirements have been met, the
data collected by School OASIS can be used in judging student-intake quality and for
educational research.
Physics was targeted for three reasons. First, physics is a key prerequisite for engineering.
Second, physics is the high-school subject students find hardest to understand; often
discouraging further study. Third, given the shortage of appropriately-qualified teachers,
this is the subject area most needing support.
Terry is an experienced high-school teacher employed part-time to write physics
questions appropriate for senior high-school students. As well as working on the School
OASIS project, he also advises high-school science teachers and teaches high-school
physics. Thus Terry is ideally placed to develop, promote and receive feedback about
School OASIS. The feedback received from both teachers and students has been most
positive.
The goal of this session is for attendees to log on to Oasis and experience the range of
individualized tasks.