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A model for the identification of challenges to blended learning
Get PDFA model for an inclusive approach to the identification of challenges to blended learning as a means to identify educational accessibility issues is presented. By focusing on both the learner and teacher perspectives, the model encompasses a broad range of factors, including learner characteristics, learning and teaching environments, interactions and activities. The proposed model provides a starting point for the identification of challenges to learning from a socio‐cultural perspective rather than a medical or rehabilitation perspective. This holistic perspective is key to moving ‘thinking’ towards a more inclusive learning approach that embraces the needs of all learners, regardless of a defined disability
PebblePad Eportfolio from the Student perspective
Get PDFA students' account of using the PebblePad Eportfolio at the University of Wolverhampton
Tutorial chat: a case study of synchronous communication in a learning environment
Get PDFThis case study describes the use of a web‐based synchronous chat application, run during computing tutorials. The chat room was moderated by a paid demonstrator, who assisted and encouraged students whenever possible. Most of the discussion was banter, which acted as a lubricant for relevant factual communication. Students were permitted a degree of anonymity, but nevertheless learned to treat the facility in a useful manner. The application and its mode of employment were found to be both motivating and supportive. Use was evaluated by questionnaire and an analysis of student input. As a result of the experience, it is suggested that abuse will certainly occur and may be minimised by technical improvements, but never eliminated. The Rogerian approach adopted was found to have transferred emphasis from teaching a topic to the learning of generic skills
Creative solutions to making the technology work: three case studies of dyslexic writers in higher education
Get PDFResearch into the behaviours manifested by the dyslexic condition has often focused upon younger dyslexic pupils and the lower‐order skill difficulty in decoding and encoding. A surge in interest in the writing process has shifted the focus to higher‐order skills, and a growing body of research is emerging within the higher education context (Hughes & Suritsky, 1994; McNaughton et al., 1997; Hatcher, 2001; Singleton & Aisbett, 2001; Farmer et al., 2002). Students are expected to be ‘expert’ writers, and the mark of a good student is the ability to use writing as a tool for thinking. Drawing upon data from semi‐structured interviews with undergraduate and postgraduate dyslexic students and their real‐time writing logs, three case studies are presented and used to explore creative ways of using technology to manage dyslexia. The students demonstrate how they use different types of software to overcome writing anxiety, ‘fear of the blank page’ syndrome and issues of plagiarism. The experiences of the students within the case studies demonstrate that often simple software can provide the best solutions, and that students combine features from software programs in creative ways to compensate for weaknesses in their cognitive profile
Secondary PGCE students’ use of ICT in science teaching: case studies of practice
Get PDFA range of case studies about science teaching, using technology
Supporting Professional Development Using the VLE in the PGCE/Certificate in Education
Get PDFA case study of e-learning in practice on a Post-Compulsory Education and Training Programme franchised from the University of Wales, Newport (UWN)
e-Learning research: emerging issues?
Get PDFe-Learning research is an expanding and diversifying field of study. Specialist research units and departments proliferate. Postgraduate courses recruit well in the UK and overseas, with an increasing focus on critical and research-based aspects of the field, as well as the more obvious professional development requirements. Following this years launch of a National e-Learning Research Centre, it is timely to debate what the field of study should be prioritising for the future. This discussion piece suggests that the focus should fall on questions that are both clear and tractable for researchers, and likely to have a real impact on learners and practitioners. Suggested questions are based on early findings from a series of JISC-funded projects on e-learning and pedagogy
Exploring behaviour in the online environment: student perceptions of information literacy
Get PDFThe aim of this paper is to show how information literacy can be conceptualised as a key learning process related to discipline and academic maturity, rather than as a generic skill. Results of a small-scale study including questionnaires and observation of student behaviour are reported and analysed in relation to Bruces 'seven faces of information literacy' framework. The findings illustrate that information literacy is a highly situated practice that remains undeveloped through mandatory schooling. Some methodological issues are considered in relation to researching information literacy, including the limits of the Bruce model as a framework for analysis. We also show how decontextualised courses can foreground and privilege certain behaviours that are beneficial but that developing higher-level information literate attitudes is likely to be an iterative and contextualised process
inPractice: a practical nursing package for clinical decisions
Get PDFThis paper examines the recent development of a computer-assisted learning program-in Practice-at the School of Health Science, in the University of Wales Swansea. The project, which began in 2001, was developed in close collaboration with The Meningitis Trust, the aim being to produce a software package to increase nursing students knowledge of meningitis-related illnesses, and to enhance their decision-making and problem-solving skills by using lifelike scenarios. It incorporates two multimedia meningitis modules incorporating the use of text, film, and sound, in which students are presented with information about the illness (symptoms, treatment etc.), and are required to use their knowledge to make decisions at various key points. A general discussion of decision-making theories and CAL design principles is presented, which has provided a foundation for the main design aspects of the package. This is followed by an outline of how the program was created to promote students application of knowledge and their decision-making and problem-solving skills. Results from an evaluation questionnaire are presented. Consideration is also given as to how the program can be extended