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Faculty and Academic Staff Use of the Course Management System (CMS): iLearn at the American University of Sharjah April 5 th , 2012 AMICAL Panel
Faculty and Academic Staff Use of the Course Management System (CMS): iLearn at the American University of Sharjah
April 5th, 2012AMICAL Panel
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Outline
• Part One:– Background to the Study (Dr. David Prescott)– Survey information (Mr. Walid Alieldin)– Interviews (Ms. Shireen Baghestani)– Focus Groups (Dr. David Prescott)
• Part Two:– Discussion of Data (Panel members)
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The research team
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Survey
• 7 questions.• Sent to 394 faculty/teaching staff using
iLearn’s survey tool.• 98 responses were received.
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Opening Survey ScreenThe survey will take a maximum of 15 minutes of your time. It is voluntary and anonymous. Electronic personal data is neither collected nor stored.
The study addresses four questions:
1. What do faculty and academic staff use iLearn for?2. What factors encourage faculty and academic staff to increase or
decrease their use of iLearn?3. What pedagogic gains does iLearn facilitate?4. What examples of helpful practice do users identify?
INFORMATION GIVEN IN THIS SURVEY WILL BE COMPLETELY ANONYMOUS NO PARTICIPANT DETAILS CAN BE IDENTIFIED
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Demographic Questions
• Age category: please tick ( ) a box– 25 – 35– 36 – 45– 46 - 55– 56 - 65– 66+
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Demographic Questions
• Excluding current study what is your highest educational attainment? Tick ( ) one.– Doctorate– Masters degree– Bachelors degree– Other postgraduate– Other (please specify)
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Demographic Questions
• What is your AUS College/Department? Tick ( ) one.– Achievement Academy– CAAD– CAS– CEN– LIB– SBM– Please specify Department
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Question 4: Which iLearn tools do you use? Tick () your selections
Tool Consistently Occasionally Almost never
Never
Announcements Blogs Calendar Discussions (Discussion Board) Emailing students e-Portfolios Grade Center Groups Journals Posting content and materials (files, documents, videos etc)
Rubrics Safe Assign Self & Peer Assessment Tool Test and Quizzes and Surveys The Assignment Tool Wikis
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Question 5: Please tick your responses to indicate your purposes for use of iLearn
Purpose Consistently Occasionally Almost never
Never
Cater to diverse learning styles
Communicate learning expectations
Emphasize time on task Encourage student interaction
Improve communication with students
Increase transparency Provide more interactivity between student & content
Provide prompt feedback Supplement lecture material Any other comments (please add)
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Question 6: In your view what features would encourage greater use of iLearn?
() Feature Greater ease of use (please add suggestions)
More features (please specify)
More training for faculty and academic staff (please give examples)
Training for students (please give examples)
Reliability factors (please specify)
More intuitive interface (please add suggestions)
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Question 7: In your view what features discourage greater use of iLearn?
() Feature Incongruity with pedagogy (explain briefly)
Unsuitable for my discipline (explain briefly)
Difficulty of use (please give examples)
Time consuming (please give examples)
Failure to engage students meaningfully (explain briefly)
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Interviews
• Interviewer training
• Conducting the interviews
• Transcribing the interviews
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Focus Groups
• Expectations• Realities
Optional Separator
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Part Two
Findings
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2731
181
25 – 3536 – 4546 - 5556 - 6566+
2 13
46
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1 12
Achievement AcademyCAADCASCENLIBSBM
Academic Unit
Age
56
42
Doctorate
Masters degree
Bachelors degree
Other
Education Level
Demographics
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Tools favored by AUS survey respondents
Wikis
Blogs
Self &
Peer A
ssessm
ent
Calendar
e-Portf
olios
Journals
Discussi
ons
Groups
Rubrics
Tests,
Quizzes
and Su
rveys
Assign
ment T
ool
Safe A
ssign
Announcemen
ts
Grade C
enter
Posting conten
t0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
NeverAlmost neverOccasionallyConsistently
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Faculty purposes for use of iLearn
Discussi
ons (Disc
ussion Board
)
Encourag
e studen
t inter
action
Cater to
diverse
learn
ing styl
es
Provid
e pro
mpt feed
back
Emphasi
ze time o
n task
Provid
e more
interacti
vity b
etwee
n studen
t & co
ntent
Communicate
learning e
xpect
ations
Increase
transp
arency
Supplem
ent le
cture
materia
l
Impro
ve communica
tion with
studen
ts0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
NeverAlmost neverOccasionallyConsistently
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General Findings from the Interviews
• Time-saving• Hard to use• Problems with features
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Pros
• Time saving• Saves paper• Good way to communicate with students• Helps keep classes organized• Secure testing environment (lockdown
browser)
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Cons
iLearn was described as:
• Clunky• Slow• Counter-intuitive• A mind-boggling waste of time
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Problems with the features
• Useful features missing.• The quizzes don’t always save. Students get
frustrated.• The gradebook is not user-friendly.• Safe assignment is not reliable.
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iLearn Specific Debatable point
iLearn has too many features in one program.
Con: In this way, iLearn does a lot, but none of it well. All the features make it very slow, clunky, etc.
Pro: A faculty member can pick and choose what he/she likes without having to do much extra work.
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CMS Debatable Point
The availability of course material for students.
Con: Students are given too much help – everything is available for them so they are not pushed in any way. They are “spoon-fed”.
Pro: Students are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their learning.
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Thank You!
David Prescott, [email protected] Alieldin, [email protected]
Shireen Baghestani, [email protected] Botter, [email protected]
Cindy Gunn, [email protected]
