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Uptake and Usage of Virtual Learning Environments: Findings
from a longitudinal multi institutional student usage survey
Robert Cosgrave, Eamon Costello, Tom Farrelly, Nuala Harding, Theresa Logan-Phelan, Claire McAvinia, Fiona O'Riordan, Damien Raftery, Angelica Risquez
EdTech 2012, May 31st-June 1st, NUI Maynooth
Virtual Learning Environments are now core infrastructure in most tertiary
institutions.
But we don't know as much as we should about how they are used, and
for what...
It all started in Cork
Project Structure
Project BudgetProject Lead Team Structure
€0.00NoneNone
Ground Rules
Higher Education TimesUniversity of Leitrim
has best VLE!President Gloats!
Researchers sacked!
No use of findings for PRAll published results to be anonymous by Institution.
Institutions letter coded A,B,C…
Three myths of the VLE:
"The choice of VLE will influence how I teach"
"Using a VLE will reduce attendance"
"If everything happens online, the face to face teaching will be redundant."
Meet the Data
• 15,385 Individual Student Responses
• 12 Institutions
• 22 Survey Instances
• Data collection since 2008
• 78 questions (including subquestions)
How to slice it?
• Blackboard vs. Moodle
• Demographics
• Disability
• Time
What do you use the VLE for?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Keep track ofclass times
Get copies oflecture notes
Get othercoursematerial
Onlinediscussions
about thecourse
Online quizzes Submitassignments
%
2008/09 2011/12
If you do not use [VLE], why not?
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
My Lecturers don’tuse it
The information onit isn’t useful
I can’t access it I find it difficult touse
I don’t haveaccess to the web
%
2008/09 2011/12
I am comfortable with using computers
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
16-23 24-35 36-50 50+ 16-23 24-35 36-50 50+
2009/09 2011/12
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree
Lecturer use is a big issueWhat is the most important thing you would
like to see improved
Easier to Use
More Reliable
More use of Audio/Multimedia/
Podcasts
Better Usage by Lecturers
When asked what prevents them getting most of their VLE...
"Answer is simple...The system as usual is perfect. What is holding us back is the lecturers...I feel each lecturer should be trained more"
"I think that if lecturers don't use Moodle effectively (uploading class notes, including research resources, case studies, discussions, etc.), Moodle wouldn't be a useful or helpful resource for students'"
"All lecturers appear to have a different method of using [VLE] and this should be standard"
Digital Literacy, Usability, Support
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
I amcomfortablewith usingcomputers
I haveadequateaccess (iecomputers,
bandwidth) tothe web
outside college
I think systemslike the VLEare helpful
The VLE iseasy to use
The VLE isreliable
I can getadequate helpand support to
use the VLE
%
2008/09 2011/12
"I like the freedom of having access to info day or night."
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
07:00 to 09:00 09:00 to 12:00 12:00 to 14:00 14:00 to 18:00 18:00 to 22:00 22:00 to 07:00
%
2008/09 2011/12
From where do you access the VLE
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Home
Wor
kplace
Open A
cces
s La
bs
Depar
tmen
tal L
abs
Lapt
ops o
n Cam
pus
Inte
rnet
Caf
és o
utsid
e ca
mpu
s
Mob
ile D
evice
%
2008/09 2011/12
Things are getting betterMy lecturers make good use of the VLE
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2008/09 2011/12
Disagree/Strongly Disagree Agree/Strongly Agree
Students overwhelmingly like VLE'sSystems like VLE's are helpful
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2008/09 2011/12
Disagree/Strongly Disagree Agree/Strongly Agree
"I find it makes note-taking less hard and means I can concentrate more in the lecture…"
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
It mainly repeatswhat is covered in
class
It adds to what iscovered in class
It helps to clarifywhat has been
covered in class
Using the VLEmakes it easier for
me to learn
Using the VLEhelps me
understand howwell I am doing
%
2008/09 2011/12
They help students communicate
Getting notes on [VLE] makes me less likely to go to lectures
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree
"I believe extra notes online aid the learning of students and not deter them [students] from coming to class"
"Sometimes lecturers don't use it to its full potential…some are reluctant to put lecture notes up in the flawed attempt to make people come to class but if people don't want to be there they just won't come either way"
Three myths of the VLE?
"The choice of VLE will influence how I teach"
"Using a VLE will reduce attendance“
"If everything happens online, the face to face teaching will be redundant."
So, how are we doing?
Our VLE's are doing OK!
They solve basic problems well
They are becoming more widely used
We need to help lecturers get off the bottom rung where they need to
Next Steps
• Keep running the student survey
• Complement with a staff survey
• Consider system derived metrics and
learning analytics type data
• Integrate with National Strategy regarding
student engagement
Longitudinal Studies never end...
New institutions welcome.
Contact any of the authors to get involved.Get involved anytime.
Plenty of work to go around!
Dissemination
Cosgrave, Robert ; McAvinia, Claire ;Risquez, Angelica ;Logan-Phelan, Theresa (2008): Uptake and usage of virtual learning environments: findings from a multi institutional student usage survey. Second Annual Conference of the National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning. WIT, 14-15th November
Cosgrave, Robert ; McAvinia, Claire ;Risquez, Angelica ;Logan-Phelan, Theresa; Farelly, Tom; Harding, Nuala; Cooper, Rosemary; Vaughan, Noreen; Palmer, Marion (2009): Usage and uptake of virtual learning environments and technology assisted learning tools: Findings from a multi-institutional, multi year comparative study. EdTech 2009, May NCI
Cosgrave et al, (2011) Usage and uptake of Virtual Learning Environments and Technology Assisted Learning Tools: Findings from a multi-institutional, multi-year, comparative study , The All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (AISHEJ) http://journals.sfu.ca/aishe/index.php/aishe-j/index
Publication pending
EDIN publication (June 2013)Emerging Issues III – From Capacity Building to Sustainability