University Virtual Learning Environment Research Articles

Exploring independent learning (IL) and its relationship to mindset, motivated strategies for learning and academic performance

PurposeThis study addresses gaps in the existing literature on students' understanding of Independent Learning (IL), whilst exploring the link between levels of IL, growth mindset, motivated strategies for learning and academic performance.Design/methodology/approachThree hundred and eighty-six university students recruited via opportunistic sampling completed an online survey to measure: understanding and level of IL, Motivated Strategies for Learning (MSL) (Duncan and McKeachie, 2005) and growth mindset (Dweck, 2000). Interaction with the university Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and academic grades were also measured. A correlational design was implemented, and a Spearman Rho was calculated to explore the relationship between level of IL, MSL and growth mindset. A between-subjects design using independent measures t-test was employed to determine the significance of any difference in level of IL and VLE engagement according to academic grade.FindingsWhilst most students: considered themselves an IL and understood what IL was, the majority erroneously believed it meant learning alone or without help. Level of IL, however, was positively associated with motivational beliefs (self-efficacy and mindset), cognitive strategies (rehearsal, elaboration, organisation and critical thinking), and metacognitive strategies (time management and self-regulation). Further, those with grades A-C scored significantly higher than those with grades D and below on cognitive strategies (elaboration and organisation). Those attaining higher grades also interacted with the VLE significantly more frequently and regularly than those attaining lower grades.Originality/valueThis study adds to the existing literature by highlighting the positive relationship between level of IL, MSL, mindset and academic achievement. It also addresses the under-explored potential for VLE engagement in predicting grades amongst on-campus courses. Given that cognitive strategies and VLE engagement differentiate the high and low achievers, interventions to develop such skills may enhance academic achievement.

Impostor phenomenon traits in radiography students: Findings from a UK pilot survey

IntroductionImpostor Phenomenon (IP) includes feelings of being a fraud, which can be associated with high anxiety levels. Research suggests healthcare students on clinical placement report high levels of anxiety. This study aimed to explore radiography students' (diagnostic and therapeutic) IP traits within the United Kingdom (UK). MethodsThe pilot study used a mixed-method online survey, applying the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS). Internal student recruitment used the university virtual learning environment (VLE), and external UK recruitment used social media with a convenience sampling method. The survey included demographic questions (gender, age, year of study, course). The statistical analysis used the Kruskal-Wallis test for the quantitative responses and content analysis of the qualitative responses. ResultsThe survey received n = 92 responses; 77% were found to have frequent or intense IP traits. No significant differences were identified by age (p = 0.46) or radiography programme (diagnostic or therapeutic) (p = 1.00). The year of study demonstrated a significant difference (p = 0.01), with second-year students scoring a higher CIPS score (78.56) than first and third years (72.41 and 66.17, respectively). There was also a significant difference between males and females surveyed (p = 0.001). The thematic analysis highlighted that the clinical placement environment, prior IP knowledge, feelings of not belonging, and being an older/mature student increased IP feelings. ConclusionBoth therapeutic and diagnostic students returned a high CIPS score >70, demonstrating that IP traits were present in the sample of survey responses. Although being an older/mature student was a subtheme in qualitative responses, the quantitative data displayed no statistical difference amongst the CIPS scores by age. A significant difference between males and females surveyed (p = 0.001) and year of study (p = 0.01) was found with second years students scoring higher (mean CIPS score of 75.56) than first and third-year students (72.41 and 66.17, respectively). The qualitative responses further suggested as clinical placement experiences increased, feelings of IP decreased. Implications for practiceEducational intervention methods such as workshops may assist radiography students in identifying and coping with IP traits before their first clinical placement.

Using self and peer video annotations of simulated patient encounters in communication training to facilitate the reflection of communication skills: an implementation study.

Background: The mandatory communication skills course for fourth-year medical students at the University of Bern Medical School aims to prepare students for challenging communication situations. Students role-play four different scenarios with simulated patients (SPs) and receive feedback from the patient’s perspective. The scenarios are video-recorded and uploaded onto the University’s virtual learning environment. Students can watch and annotate their own videos and give others access to view them.Project description: Although the course is well liked by students, we identified three areas for improvement: lack of faculty feedback; little active use of the video-recordings;lack of opportunity for students to discuss their experiences with each other.We aimed to address these shortcomings by introducing an additional learning task: students are asked to annotate a section of the video in which they had performed well, and one in which they thought they could have done better, in both their own and a colleague’s videos. These video clips and annotations served as the basis of a subsequent two-hour small-group seminar with a physician tutor. The course was evaluated by a mandatory online questionnaire. Results: All 247 students completed the questionnaire. The annotation tool and task were deemed to be comprehensible. Students believed they had learnt more from annotating a peers’ video than from their own and most thought being assessed by peers was acceptable. The physician tutors’ comments were largely deemed as helpful. The mean mark for the course given by students was 4.6 (median 5) (1=very poor, 6=very good).Conclusion: A communication skills course expanded by video-annotations and group discussions with a physician tutor was shown to be feasible and was well received by students and faculty.

Can e-Authentication Raise the Confidence of Both Students and Teachers in Qualifications Granted Through the e-Assessment Process?

The EU-funded TeSLA project - Adaptive Trust-based e-Assessment System for Learning (http://tesla-project.eu) has developed a suite of instruments for e-Authentication. These include face recognition, voice recognition, keystroke dynamics, forensic analysis and plagiarism detection were designed for integration within a university's virtual learning environment. These tools were trialed across the seven partner institutions: 4,058 participating students, including 330 Students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND); 54 teaching staff.
 This paper describes the findings of this large-scale study where over 50% of students gave a positive response to the use of these tools. In addition, over 70% agreed that these tools were 'to ensure that my examination results are trusted' and 'to prove that my essay is my own original work'. Teaching staff also reported positive experiences of TeSLA: the figure reaching 100% in one institution. We show there is evidence that a suite of e-authentication tools such as TeSLA can potentially be acceptable to students and staff and be used to increase trust in online assessment. Also, that whilst not yet perfected for SEND students it can still enrich their experience of assessment. We find that care is needed when introducing such technologies to ensure the building of the layers of trust required for their successful adoption.

АНАЛІЗ ПРАКТИЧНОЇ РЕАЛІЗАЦІЇ МЕХАНІЗМІВ ДОСТУПУ КОРИСТУВАЧІВ ДО ВНС УНІВЕРСИТЕТУ

One of the hallmarks of the learning process is its manageability, which provides for the possibility of planning and designing the educational process. The article deals with practical issues related to the administration of the University Virtual Learning Environment in terms of organization and differentiation of access rights of different categories of users. The authors discuss the principles of administering a virtual learning environment in terms of distinguishing levels of access to individual elements of the system for different roles of different categories of users. In LMS Moodle, the list of hierarchical contexts is as follows: System (no parent context); Website – homepage (parent context – system); Course category (parent context – system); Course (parental context – course category or system); Course element (parent context – course); Block (parent context – system or course); User (parent context – system). In the Lviv Polytechnic University, only Super Administrator, Global Group Management, Methodist, and Library have global roles. Role assignments are performed to determine the role in context. The site (homepage) and course are examples of two different contexts. While the role assignment process is the same for different contexts, the path to the assignment page may be different. The article gives examples of how to organize a system of administration with a description of the processes of creating different types of roles and the logic of implementation of each role and the need for certain approaches. There are five types of roles in the article, namely: managerial, supervisory, training, informational, temporary, providing justification and practical advice on setting up each role for each type. The article describes a common responsibility matrix for each user role. The roles of management roles are different aspects of course administration at the level of course categories of different types of nesting. This type includes administrators. The role of the controlling role is, by name, to investigate the various aspects of educational and training activities within the VNS system. The objectives of the learning roles are to ensure and carry out the learning process itself. These roles include, first of all, the system role by default – the student, the main participant in the process of acquiring knowledge, passing checkpoints and other components of the educational process. The tasks of information roles are to create information messages for both students and teachers at different levels of the information system. Temporary role tasks are to involve third parties in the system. Of course, the guest is first and foremost, but in our case guest entry is forbidden, so the roles of Conference Participant and Olympiad Participant were created to provide access to individual system resources. The article describes a common responsibility matrix for each user role.

Qualitative Findings on the Dynamics of Online Facilitation in Distance Education

Online facilitation has taken on a new facade especially with the evolving virtual learning environments in distance education. The dynamics of online facilitation is an intricate quality assurance process that involves the participation of learners and instructors working together to achieve the stipulated learning outcomes of the course. In view of this, this study attempted to examine the dynamics of online facilitation from the perspectives of experienced tutors engaged in the university's virtual learning environment, WawasanLearn. Based on the interview findings of eight tutors, several emergent findings highlighted the roles and challenges of effective online facilitation. As this research is based on the guidelines of the prominent Salmon's model, the findings also highlighted antecedents that substantiate best practices of online facilitation. Findings indicated that proper understanding on the dynamics of online facilitation among relevant stakeholders is critical to avoid issues of student isolation which is evidently a growing concern in distance learning institutions.

Social media and anatomy education: Using twitter to enhance the student learning experience in anatomy.

Neuroanatomy is a difficult subject in medical education, with students often feeling worried and anxious before they have even started, potentially decreasing their engagement with the subject. At the University of Southampton, we incorporated the use of Twitter as a way of supporting students' learning on a neuroanatomy module to evaluate how it impacted upon their engagement and learning experience. The #nlm2soton hashtag was created and displayed (via a widget) on the university's virtual learning environment (VLE) for a cohort of 197 Year 2 medical students studying neuroanatomy. Student usage was tracked to measure levels of engagement throughout the course and frequency of hashtag use was compared to examination results. Student opinions on the use of Twitter were obtained during a focus group with eleven students and from qualitative questionnaires. The hashtag was used by 91% of the student cohort and, within this, more students chose to simply view the hashtag rather than make contributions. The completed questionnaire responses (n = 150) as well as focus group outcomes revealed the value of using Twitter. A negligible correlation was found between student examination scores and their viewing frequency of the hashtag however, no correlation was found between examination scores and contribution frequency. Despite this, Twitter facilitated communication, relieved anxieties and raised morale, which was valued highly by students and aided engagement with neuroanatomy. Twitter was successful in creating and providing a support network for students during a difficult module. Anat Sci Educ 9: 505-515. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.

Students’ Satisfaction with a Blended Instructional Design: The Potential of “Flipped Classroom” in Higher Education

This paper aims to discuss the impact on promoting student satisfaction and improving their involvement in their own learning when applying a “Flipped classroom” design in a first-year bilingual, English-taught module in a non-English-speaking country. “World Economy” is taught in the Faculty of Business and Economics at a traditional, face-to-face (F2F) Spanish publicly-funded institution, the University of Oviedo (Spain). It is a bilingual module, where English is the medium of instruction and evaluation to a cohort of Spanish-speaking freshers. During 2013–14, the instructional designers implemented a “Flipped Classroom” design for this module: content delivery through videos in English of the different module topics, pre-class questionnaires answered through the University Virtual Learning Environment, instructor mediation between students and content through mini-lectures and Just-in-Time Teaching, student-centred active learning approach for in-class sessions, and individual practice combined with peer-instruction mediated by the instructor. Therefore, the design targets module contents, skills practice and improvement of students’ linguistic skills.

Quality features of university information environment in its external indicators

The paper represents the preliminary results of the ongoing comparative study of information environments in the frame of the European project 'IRNet'. The aim of this study is to substantiate and verify a set of external indicators for the virtual educational environment of the University, which allows to determine its quality and to identify concrete ways for its further improvement. This research phase was conducted within three universities: Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University in Ukraine, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovak Republic and Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. The Research instrument contains three sections (dimensions): characteristic of Open University resources; the questionnaire, detecting students' information behaviour and attitude towards different networking activities in university information environment; global ranking of university internet integration. The study shows that the proposed set of indicators allows to determine the overall level of university virtual learning environment development and to identify specific areas for its improvement. For a more complete study of the university virtual environment, the developed set of tools must be supplemented by internal indicators reflecting e-learning methodology, achieved educational outcomes, etc. But it is the task of the next phase of the study.

Using Social Media as an Educational Tool: The Potential Role of Twitter in Enhancing the Student Learning Experience in Neuro/Anatomy

BackgroundSince the rise in tuition fees the value of the student experience has become more important than ever. Difficult areas of medical degree programmes like neuroanatomy can often leave students feeling disengaged and unsupported. More recently the use of social media, such as Twitter has been used in higher education to increase engagement and offer a supportive online community for the learning of challenging subjects. At the University of Southampton, we incorporated the use of Twitter as a way of supporting students learning on a neuroanatomy module to see how it impacted upon their engagement and learning experience.AimsTo investigate if Twitter can be used to engage and support medical students while learning neuroanatomy and to identify how it is used by students.MethodThe nlm2soton hashtag was created and was displayed (via a widget) on the University's Virtual Learning Environment (Blackboard) for a cohort of 203 BM5 Year 2 medical students studying neuroanatomy. Student usage was tracked to measure levels of engagement throughout the course.Results62% of the cohort viewed the widget with on average 30 hits per day. A 16% increase in the widget's daily hits coincided with the January revision period. 33% of the cohort tweeted or favoured tweets which were themed as follows: Shared learning (29%), Morale boosts (28%), Questions (23%), Worries (16%) and Information (4%).ConclusionIncorporating the use of Twitter on this module was successful. Although only a third of students contributed their own tweets, almost two‐thirds of the cohort regularly monitored the feed for updates. Sharing learning tips and interestingly, contributions intended to raise spirits were the most common.

Anatomy drawing screencasts: enabling flexible learning for medical students.

The traditional lecture remains an essential method of disseminating information to medical students. However, due to the constant development of the modern medical curriculum many institutions are embracing novel means for delivering the core anatomy syllabus. Using mobile media devices is one such way, enabling students to access core material at a time and place that suits their specific learning style. This study has examined the effect of five anatomy drawing screencasts that replicate the popular anatomy drawing element of a lecture. These resources were uploaded to the University's Virtual Learning Environment for student access. Usage data and an end of module questionnaire were used to assess the impact of the screencasts on student education. The data revealed a high level of usage that varied in both the time of day and day of the week, with the number of downloads dramatically increasing towards the end of the module when the assessment was approaching. The student group found the additional resources extremely useful in consolidating information and revision, with many commenting on their preference to the screencasts compared to the more traditional approaches to learning. Scrutinizing the screencasts in relation to cognitive load theory and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning indicates a high correlation with an evidence-based approach to designing learning resources. Overall the screencasts have been a well-received enhancement that supports the student learning and has been shown to promote flexible learning.

Adopting Agile Methods for Graduate Employability

The paper evaluates the impacts of using adaptive contemporary workplace methods for the enhancement of student motivation and learning, along with future employability. The interim effects of incorporating an ‘Agile’ project management approach within an established Activity-Based Learning strategy are considered for second year undergraduate students in Software Engineering and Computer Games Development environments. A range of observations and measurements are analysed to determine likely cause and effect relationships, supported by the university's virtual learning environment, as a key communications component. The findings suggest that student motivation may be significantly enhanced through online access to interactive multi-media materials in support of an incremental facilitated learning strategy. In addition, local employer interest in graduate recruitment has been increased.

Collaborative Learning: Increasing Students' Engagement Outside the Classroom

Several factors, including the Bologna process, the embargo on university posts, and a larger student population pursuing degrees, have contributed to radical changes in teaching, learning, and assessment in Irish higher education in the last few years. Challenges to academics have resulted in curriculum reform, and most importantly, in innovative practices in which the curriculum is delivered and assessed. It was in this context that a collaborative component has been introduced into Level 2 Spanish language modules at University College Dublin. A small action research project has been undertaken to explore the students' views about this innovative way of learning. This article addresses the extent to which collaborative learning outside the classroom contributes to the enhancement of student learning and it examines the obstacles encountered by the students during the semester. The discussion of the findings focuses on feedback from the students and on group reflections submitted via blackboard, the university's VLE (virtual learning environment). (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

Predicting students’ attitudes towards advertising on a university Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

Most if not all UK universities and many in other parts of the world support their student learning via a virtual learning environment (VLE). Online resources are going to be increasingly important to students as the internet is very much part of their lives. However, the VLE will require ongoing investment to keep pace with technological developments and student expectations, and at a time when public funding of UK universities is being cut. One funding method could be from advertising on the VLE. This study investigates students’ attitudes towards advertising being included within a university’s VLE learning system. A 10-item questionnaire was randomly administered to students enrolled on undergraduate business and management courses at two universities. The study reveals that students show positive attitudes towards advertising included on a VLE. The findings also indicate that students do not view internet advertising on a VLE as intrusive, and may well be receptive towards the advertisements. These findings have implications for understanding students’ attitude towards a VLE and also to the future (if any) of advertising on VLEs within the higher education sector.

Digital Literacy and the Dance Student: Digital Dance Objects and the Implications for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment

This paper provides an overview of a project led by Sarah Whatley and David Bennett at Coventry University as part of the JISC-funded project CURVE (Coventry University Repository for a Virtual Environment). The project was one of a number of work packages developed throughout 2007–2008, in this case a dance learning objects package, to assist student engagement with the university's virtual learning environment (VLE). The dance learning objects package was developed, trialled, and is now in place. In developing these materials, the interest was in how the digital dance objects that we were creating for a parallel project—the AHRC funded Siobhan Davies Archive, which is an online digital archive—could be developed into learning objects and how this might lead to the development of new ways of teaching and learning, new assessment methods, and the development of further dance learning objects.

Student and Staff Experiences of Using a Virtual Community, Wessex Bay, to Support Interprofessional Learning: Messages for Collaborative Practice

Interprofessional Education (IPE) is a feature of many social work curricula and whilst content is difficult enough to agree, implementation raises further challenges. In 2006/7, IPE was introduced for six undergraduate professionally qualifying programmes, including social work, at Bournemouth University. Challenges included moving beyond shared teaching to collaborative learning; providing parity of learning experience for large student numbers (n = 600+) unevenly spread between professions across a wide geographical area; and supporting staff in adapting to changing learning and teaching practices. Embracing opportunities for technology supported learning, a virtual town known as Wessex Bay was developed in partnership with service users and carers and embedded in the IPE curriculum, accessed through the university Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Blackboard. Populated by providers of health and social care services, service users and carers and other residents, it enables the facilitation of interprofessional learning and collaborative practice using evolving scenarios. Evaluation using an iterative action research approach was undertaken. Emerging themes for both staff and students include technology issues, teaching and learning strategies, and professional identity. This paper discusses some of the implications for technology supported learning in situations where social work students are engaged in IPE.

The online reading list project using Talis List at the University of Glamorgan

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the issues surrounding the implementation of an online reading list system at the University of Glamorgan.Design/methodology/approachThe paper reports on an implementation project, using Talis List, which took place between November 2005 and March 2006.FindingsThe project itself was a success, with the target number of reading lists made available being exceeded. As with any new system, the development of the processes involved in its day‐to‐day running can be unpredictable. Workflows did not develop as anticipated; the ways in which reading lists were collected from academics varied, as did the styles of the lists themselves. Some issues were encountered around linking to electronic resources and embedding the system into the university's virtual learning environment (VLE).Originality/valueThis paper will be of value to those interested in the development and use of online reading lists.

INTEGRATING LIBRARY SERVICES AND RESOURCES AT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY

This paper was presented at the cpd25 Conference, London, on 23 April 2007. It gives an overview of the development of the Open University virtual learning environment (OU VLE), using the Moodle open source solution. In particular, this paper provides information and illustration of the Moodle enhancement projects that are being led by the Library, and the new e-portfolio system-MyStuff-into which the Library is having significant input. The paper concludes by indicating how involvement in the development of the new Library website, called Open Library 2.0, and in the OU VLE, has benefited this work and the overall reputation of the Library.

Dyslexia and learning computer programming

This poster explores some of the issues associated with teaching computer science to students with dyslexia. Issues associated with both student learning generally and computer science specifically are considered. The accessibility of teaching materials made available through virtual learning environments (VLEs) is addressed. Twelve resulting guidelines particularly relevant to students with dyslexia are outlined. More specifically to computer science, the issues associated with programming are explored through the development of a mapping of the features of dyslexia to the tasks involved in writing a computer program. Preliminary evidence, from both the wider dyslexia community with computer programming experience and some early interview results, are presented to both support the mapping and draw out other important issues.This poster describes results generated from a LTSN-ICS Development Fund project, entitled 'Impact of Learning Disability on the Study of Computing'. This project seeks to investigate the impact of learning disabilities on students who are following a course of study in the computing curriculum. It looked at how best to deliver materials through the University's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and then focused on issues surrounding students with dyslexia and computer programming.The introduction of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act [1] and the Disability Discrimination Act part IV [2] provides an opportunity and incentive to review teaching and learning methods and see how the needs of the students with special needs are addressed. In the case of a computing department, this should include general aspects, for example accessible provision of e-resources, and also domain specific aspects, for example programming. This poster looks at both of these aspects.Leeds Metropolitan University (Leeds Met.) is a large (37,000 students) university of applied learning, with a policy of widening access to higher education. The School of Computing has approximately 1,500 students enrolled on a variety of HND and degree programmes, of these on average 20 are registered as dyslexic at any given time. This is in line with the occurrence of dyslexia across the University as a whole and the general higher education student population, 1.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent [3]. There is, then, a substantial and persistent number of individuals that require support within the school.The poster begins by outlining the sources of standards and guidelines relating to the provision of accessible Web based and e-learning materials and then highlights those considered particularly pertinent to students with dyslexia. It then focuses in on specific issues associated with computer programming and dyslexia. In order to do this, first the features of dyslexia, both negative and positive, are outlined. A model of the processes involved in computer programming is then proposed. This allows an interaction matrix of the features of dyslexia and the process stages of computer programming to be developed. Preliminary evidence is then presented from correspondents of a Dyslexia e-mail forum, which supports the interaction matrix and raises additional issues. The results of an interview with a Computer Science student with dyslexia are also presented.This poster is based on earlier work [4,5].

The Attitudes of Students and Academic Staff Towards Electronic Course Support--are we Convergent?

The present study investigates the views and attitudes of both the students and staff with regard to the usefulness of electronic course support throughout all four years of the MPharm programme at Aston University. Students were sampled between January and March 2001 using a self-completion questionnaire administered during the start of a practical or tutorial class. All internal academic staff were interviewed using a semi-structured interview format. Response rates were 100 and 89.5%, respectively. The study found that students rapidly embraced the use of electronic course support within the undergraduate programme, although they view its role as augmenting traditional course delivery. This view was mirrored by the academic staff, although only around a half currently place their material on the University's virtual learning environment (VLE), WebCT. The failure of staff to completely embrace the VLE is grounded in a lack of confidence and ability in its use. A majority of the academic staff indicated that they wish to be trained further in the use of information technology. Academic institutions need to understand and meet these needs in parallel with the introduction of any electronic course support.