Reflections
First Workshop complete
Today I hosted the first of a series of workshops demonstrating the data analytic features of Webcourses.
The lecturer was emailed a detailed lesson plan in advance of the workshop outlining requirements, overview, learning objectives and procedure of workshop.
I felt the workshop went really well and there was a real interest on the part of the participant to learn about the various aspects of the data analytic features of Webcourses.
We did go over the one hour timeslot allocated to the workshop but this was mainly due to the staff member’s interest in delving into and learning more about the analytics features.
I felt that the workshop was worthwhile and positive experience both for myself and the lecturer involved. One notable and critical comment of the analytic features to emerge from the workshop was that the reporting failed to sufficiently highlight wiki usage. This lecturer utilised the wiki feature with his student cohorts and it was a critical component in student assessment.
Whilst the majority of the reports within Blackboard provide some indication as to what features are being used, none of these reports provide adequate usage stats regarding Wiki usage. This is something I promised that lecturer that I will follow up on and will note it in the final write up of journal paper.
Pedagogical Approach to Workshops/Resource
In the first year of the M Sc I had the opportunity to research and analyse the theories of learning. This certainly aided me in the design and development of the workshop. I now had a greater insight and understanding as to how I can adopt these principles in my everyday responsibilities in “end user support”, information dissemination and staff training.
The layout and implementation of the workshop was influenced by behaviourism and social constructivism principles. I felt that these learning theories were the “best fit” for me in order to achieve learning objectives of the workshop.
Initially the workshop was instructor led, whereby I adopting a structured, linear approach in demonstrating the data analytic features of Webcourses. Emphasis was placed on repetition and practice and participants were encouraged to carry out the learning activities in order to become skilled with analytic features. In describing constructive alignment Biggs & Tang (2007, p7) suggest that we start with what learning outcomes we want students to learn and align planned learning activities and assessment tasks with these outcomes. With this in mind the learning activities are designed in order for the participants to achieve the learning outcomes. These learning activities include:
- Accessing and interpreting alerts in Retention Center.
- Tailoring existing rules within Retention Center to meet teaching requirements
- Creating new rules within Retention Center.
The second phase of the workshop was much more of a collaborative effort .The focus was very much on what “outcomes” the participant wanted to gain from the workshop. This phase facilitated an engaging and stimulating learning environment as we discussed and debated the merits of each reports, identified weaknesses in the reporting, learned from each other and attempted to tailor the workshop to meet the needs of the participant and his/her student cohort.
Each workshop was concluded by pointing them to the website resource and a quick run through its features.
Website resource - http://webcoursesanalytics.wordpress.com
Steen cites important characteristics of effective eLearning design. Below is a summary of how I addressed some of these:
- Adopting the appropriate learning theory
As mentioned aforesaid, a blend of behaviorism and social constructivist principles informed the design and implementation of the workshop. These learning theories also influenced the design of the website. The learning objectives are clearly outlined on the workshop section of the website and the layout of the website is well structured. Lecturers are encouraged to practice the tools in order to become proficient with the use of same.
My long term vision is to embrace the constructivist opportunities that the blog feature offers - facilitate online communities, discussion and encourage collaboration through the blog feature on each section of the website. I believe this will create a rich learning environment whereby we can all share our knowledge and experience of these tools with one another. - Knowledgeable on the subject content being taught
I have a solid grasp of the analytic features in Blackboard. Since the Research Methods module in March/April/May 2013 I have been familiarising myself with the analytic tools within Blackboard. My supervisor alerted me to the release of The Retention Center feature in September 2013 and I spent considerable time utilising this feature in a test bed environment prior to the design of the website. This had two direct benefits - (a) the obvious one that I was becoming more skilled with the use of these tools and (b) I was relying on existing Blackboard user guides and videos to master these tools so when it came to actual development of the website I was able to incorporate these existing resources into the website. - Utilising the correct digital media, style, colour that educates the learner without distracting them from the learner experience
Each webpage on the site is consistent in terms of design and layout. A webpage has been created for each of the analytic tools and they contain a brief introduction, one Blackboard video demonstrating how to use the feature and one Blackboard user guide. The layout is simple and the learners are all provided with the learning resources they need.I was keen not to bombard the learner with unnecessary text, video or graphics that might distract them from the ultimate goal of learning.
The AIDDE framework (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation) was used in the overall design of the project. My supervisor provided some really useful feedback on the design of the website which helped improve the website design and layout.
Scaffolding techniques have been employed in order to assist novice users with the analytic tools and use of the website. Scaffolding is essentially a form of guidance or assistance provided by a more capable peer or tutor to a learner to help them perform a task that they would struggle to accomplish by themselves (McLoughlin & Marshall, 2000).
An introductory video was created which provided the end user with an introduction to the website,the learning resources and the analytic tools. A blog feature is provided on each webpage for the learners to ask questions , participate in discussions or to provide feedback. This blog will also serve as a mentoring tool as I learners will be able to contact me with any queries or concerns by leaving a post on the blog.
During the interview stage of the project I will be capturing lecturers' opinion of the workshop and the website. It is envisaged this evaluation will feature as a section in the final journal paper.
Biggs, J. B., & Tang, C. S. (2007). Teaching for quality learning at university what the student does. (3rd ed.). Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
Grabinger, S., Aplin, C., & Ponnappa-Brenner, G. (2007, Oct). Instructional Design for Sociocultural Learning Environments. e-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology.
McLoughlin, C., & Marshall, L. (2000).Scaffolding: A model for learner support in an online teaching environment. Retrieved Nov 2013, from Center for Lifelong Learning -Teaching and Learning Forum 2000:
Steen, H. L. (2008). Effective eLearning Design. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching , 4 (4), 526-532 Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/vol4no4/steen_1208.pdf
Subsequent Workshops
As with the first workshop, I feel that the workshop were a worthwhile exercise. The feedback from the workshop has been positive. Staff feel these analytics now provide them with a sense of student engagement and help them identify student who may be struggling.
Following completion of the workshops I am left in no doubt that adopting a blend of behaviourist and social constructivism principles was the “best fit” in the design and delivery of these workshops. I feel that the first phase complimented the second in that it provided the staff members with the knowledge for them to provide more of an input and lead in the second phase of the workshop.
No doubt , the qualitative phase of the study, in which I will be interviewing these participants will provide feedback into the evaluation of this workshop .
