Exploring whether e-Learning has lived up to the early promise
e-learning: A Reality CheckDurham University, January 2009
Andy Ramsden
Head of e-Learning
University of Bathhttp://go.bath.ac.uk/andyramsden
eatbath-present
andyramsden
Link: download the presentation
expectations
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bidryboo/300945382/
my aims & your role
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pigpogm/13839044/
How long have you been involved in some capacity within e-learning?
less
than
a y
ear
one
to th
ree
year
s
four
to fi
ve y
ears
six
to e
ight
yea
rs
nin
e ye
ars
and
above
I’m
not
0% 0% 0%0%0%0%
1. less than a year
2. one to three years
3. four to five years
4. six to eight years
5. nine years and above
6. I’m not
What would you like me to talk about next?
Dep
artm
enta
l use
of .
..
Use
s of t
echn
ology
i...
0%0%
1. Departmental use of the VLE
2. Uses of technology in face to face teaching
The reality: vle use
Category 1: Content & Support Model
Category 2: Wrap around Model
Category 3: Integrated Model
Where content is delivered in print or online and support is provided online. Content and support are not integral to one another. Online support is an optional extra
Where there is a mixture of prepared content and online learning activities. The learning activities involve online discussion and collaborative activities.
Where most of the learning takes place via collaborative online activities and content is largely determined by the learners, either individually or as a group.
• Unit Handbook• Lecture material• Reading lists• Problem sets• Timetable• Web links• RSS infeeds
• Forums (admin, T&L)• Moodle Lesson• Moodle Quiz• Moodle Survey• Text Chat
• Wiki• Journal/blog• Group Tools
A framework for analysing VLE use
Dept / School Category 1 (Content & Support)
Category 2 (Wrap around)
Category 3 (integrated)
No of courses (as a percent of available units)
A 61 27 12 40 (31)
B 82 15 3 82 (64)
C 79 19 2 185 (54)
D 70 25 5 54 (26)
E 73 24 3 70 (59)
F 84 15 1 30 (26)
Group Average 75 21 4
VLE use at University of Bath
So across to you
Stro
ngly A
gree
Agre
e
Neu
tral
Dis
agre
e
Stro
ngly D
isag
ree
0% 0% 0%0%0%
1. Strongly Agree
2. Agree
3. Neutral
4. Disagree
5. Strongly Disagree
To what extent do you agree with the following statement.
“I’d confidently predict a similar pattern of VLE use at my institution”
The reality: face to face teaching
The respondents
Average Mode
Largest Class Size (students)
115 150
Smallest Class Size (students)
29 15
Time in teaching (years) 14 30
Number of respondents: 69
What do they do with lecture notes?
• Do you consistently make your material (slides, links, multimedia) available on Moodle (or online) before the lecture?
– Yes: 48.3%
– No: 51.7%
• If no to above, do you consistently make your material (slides, links, multimedia) available on Moodle (or online) after the lecture?
– Yes: 78.1%
– No: 21.9%
What technologies do they use?
• Which of the following electronic resources have you used in your lecture this term (you can select more than one)
Number of responses
Powerpoint 50
Audio recording 16
Video or animation 35
Accessing a web site 38
A graphic (still image) 34
Other 18
• OHPs• Web surveys• Twitter• Video conferencing• Simulations• Spreadsheets
N=69
What is their lecture style?
Could you summarise how you lecture, in particular, the style you adopt and the technologies that you use.
The reality: sharing stuff
Within your team (s) do you regularly share web resources?
Yes N
o
0%0%
1. Yes
2. No
How do you share these resources?
how do you share these resources? For instance, email, shared word document, wiki, blog, social bookmark software (diigo, delicious) or other
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Word cloud
In your view, has e-learning lived up to it’s early promise?
1 –
oh, y
es 2
3 –
no v
iew 4
5 –
oh, n
o
0% 0% 0%0%0%
1 2 3 4 5
1. 1 – oh, yes
2. 2
3. 3 – no view
4. 4
5. 5 – oh, no
What might explain this reality?
Collis & Moonen 4 E’s Model
I am
ver
y fa
mili
ar w
ith it
I’m
fam
iliar
with
it
I’ve
hea
rd o
f it
I’ve
no id
ea
I don’t
care
0% 0% 0%0%0%
1. I am very familiar with it
2. I’m familiar with it
3. I’ve heard of it
4. I’ve no idea
5. I don’t care
Collis and Moonen 4 E’s Model
Educational effectiveness
(perceived or actual)
ease of use (personal) engagement
environmental (institutional) factors
Organisational influences
Social-cultural influences
Technological influences
threshold
“an individual’s likelihood of making use of a technological innovation for a learning related purpose is a function of for groups of factors”
Back to Bath … use of VLE for specific tasks
Dept / School Include a copy of the course handbook
(%)
Include an online formative or
summative quiz (%)
No of courses
A 70 8 40
B 84 4 82
C 79 3 185
D 28 2 54
E 70 21 70
F 80 0 30
Pattern makes sense if you put yourself in the academics shoes
Putting lecture notes online
Running an objective test
Actual level of use in the organisation Medium (2) Low (1)
Level of day to day support High (3) Low (1)
Adequacy of technical infrastructure High (3) Low (1)
Previous experiences Medium (2) Low (1)
Environment: Total Score 10 4
Likely to solve a learning related problem Low (1) High (3)
Help me do routine tasks more quickly Medium (2) Medium (2)
Result in new learning experiences in institution Low (1) Medium (2)
Better grades for students Low (1) High (3)
Effectiveness: Total Score 5 10
Putting lecture notes online
Running an objective test
Network is adequate in speed and reliability High (3) Low (1)
Software is easy to learn High (3) Low (1)
Lets me do what I want / need for the task High (3) Low (1)
Ease of use: Total Score 9 3
Encourage others to follow High (3) Low (1)
Self confident at using the software High (3) Low (1)
Improve my career prospects Low (1) High (3)
My prior experiences of this task have been +ve High (3) Low (1)
Engagement: Total Score 10 6
The outcome (black: notes)
Educ effectiveness ease of use Personal engagement
environmental factors
How might we change the situation?
Implementing a new technology
A QR Code is a matrix code (or two-dimensional bar code) created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The "QR" is derived from "Quick Response", as the creator intended the code to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed. QR Codes are common in Japan where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional codes.
Common tasks that can be achieved using a qr code, include,
• Link to web site• Send an sms to a phone• Transfer a phone number• Provide more text
Generating lots of different uses
QR Codes only QR Codes with other tools
e-Admin
e-Learning
Sign up for news alerts using QR codes
Append to Moodle printouts Classroom evaluation
Augmented Reality GamingAccess to further guidance
Student (campus) induction
Library catalogue
Students know about them …
• Do you know what a QR Code is?
– Yes: 13.8% – with 95% confidence interval, then 12.34% - 15.26% of total
student population are aware of QR codes.
Some students have accessed a QR Code
• Have you accessed a QR Code?
– Yes: 2.2% – with 95% confidence interval, then 1.58% - 2.82% of total
student population have accessed a QR code.
• The most common action was
– Web site – 33 responses– Read more text – 28 responses– Phone a number – 19 responses– Send a pre-written SMS – 12 responses
They have the technology in their pockets
QR Code Readers: Kaywa, Quickmark, i-Nigma & SnapMaze
Back to Collis and Moonen 4 E’s Model
Educ effectiveness ease of use Personal engagement
environmental (institution) factors
threshold
Down with ….
Central workshops, a large case study which takes a year to publish, one single specialist within the team
Back to Collis and Moonen 4 E’s Model
Educ effectiveness ease of use Personal engagement
environmental (institution) factors
threshold
Up with ….
Dedicated project blog, attending uses and co-writing session reports, a project lead but all the team deliver, prioritise profiling at meetings (DoS, LTC, Innovations Week, eLPF), implement with other teams, focus regular deliverables on lit reviews, encourage academics to submit journal and conference papers, assist with evaluation and resource, ring fence LT development time, organise publicity events with external speakers, commit to the long term (3 year plan).
Back to Collis and Moonen 4 E’s Model
Educ effectiveness ease of use Personal engagement
environmental (institution) factors
threshold
Why do you think e-learning has not lived up to it’s early promise?
What would others say?
“Much of the potential is only now becoming apparent as technological and pedagogical expertise builds up”
– Kukulska-Hulme and Traxler (2007) in “Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age”
In response …
The pedagogical expertise is taking a very long time to develop, and it is still a very narrow base …
back to themes of the conference - why it matters that• we practice what we preach, • why we need to disseminate this effectively and
efficiently • roll these findings into our staff development
programmes