Anne Jelfs

Face‐to‐face versus online tutoring support in distance education

The experiences of students taking the same course by distance learning were compared when tutorial support was provided conventionally (using limited face‐to‐face sessions with some contact by telephone and email) or online (using a combination of computer‐mediated conferencing and email). Study 1 was a quantitative survey using an adapted version of the Course Experience Questionnaire and the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory. Study 2 was another quantitative survey using the Academic Engagement Form. Study 3 was an interview‐based examination of the students’ conceptions of tutoring and tuition. In all three studies, the students receiving online tuition reported poorer experiences than those receiving face‐to‐face tuition. Study 3 showed that tutoring was seen not only as an academic activity but also as a highly valued pastoral activity. To make online tuition successful both tutors and students need training in how to communicate online in the absence of paralinguistic cues.

Do Students’ Approaches to Learning Affect their Perceptions of Using Computing and Information Technology?

Abstract Communication and Information Technology (C&IT) has become a key part of the teaching and learning strategy in UK Higher Education, although the level of usage is still variable across courses and institutions. As members of the Assisting Small‐group Teaching through Electronic Resources (ASTER) project team we were interested in the value of C&IT as a teaching tool. One of the aspects we looked at was student perception of using C&IT for a Virtual Seminar series in Psychology. Our research aimed to identify student learning approaches within the group and how this affected their adoption or rejection of the electronic medium. This research study involved Second Year Psychology degree level students completing a core module on biological and cognitive psychology. The module included ten seminar sessions, of which five were face‐to‐face and five used computer‐mediated communication through an Intranet Web board. The students completed the short ‘Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students’ (ASSIST) developed by Tait and Entwistle (1996). Our findings indicate only weak correlations between deep, strategic and surface approaches to learning and perception of C&IT at an overall level. However, individual measures of the deep, strategic and surface approaches to learning indicate potentially interesting relationships, and we offer suggestions on how these may assist in the design of computer‐mediated learning.

Scaffolding students: suggestions on how to equip students with the necessary study skills for studying in a blended learning environment

In this paper we consider the implications of moving from a paper‐based delivery of study support materials to electronic delivery. The paper is based on telephone interviews with 60 students who had received a range of study support materials from a series of ‘student toolkits’, which are printed resource booklets for students of the UK Open University. McLoughlin (2002) sees the integration of electronic delivery at the primary, secondary and tertiary education levels as requiring an extension to current concepts of scaffolding. The extension we propose in this paper is the need to establish study skills plus the ways and means to seek support in a resource‐based environment. However, there is a delicate balance between increased provision and overloaded provision in resource‐based learning.

Student and tutor perceptions of effective tutoring in distance education

Questionnaire responses of 457 students and 602 tutors were used to investigate conceptions of a ‘good tutor.’ In each case, factor analysis identified scales that reflected key constructs; cluster analysis identified subgroups with different patterns of scale scores; and discriminant analysis determined the scales that contributed the most to differences among the clusters. Both sets of data yielded conceptions of tutoring that were described as task‐oriented and student‐oriented, respectively. The students’ data yielded an additional, career‐oriented conception. The tutors’ data yielded two additional conceptions that were described as knowledge‐oriented and impersonal, respectively. The distribution of the tutors’ conceptions (but not that of the students’ conceptions) varied across different faculties, suggesting that tutors from different disciplines have different beliefs about effective tutoring. The study suggests that both tutors and students would benefit from having a better appreciation of the importance of support in facilitating learning.

Virtual seminars and their impact on the rôle of the teaching staff

Teaching staff and academic researchers tend to cite the reasons for introducing computer supported collaborative learning in pedagogic terms, plus the need to provide transferable skills. The focus of this paper is the current demands on teaching staff in UK Higher Education and the impact these demands have when teaching through electronic resources. The reported research into the changing role of the tutor was initiated through work on the ASTER Project (Assisting Small-group Teaching through Electronic Resources) http://cti.psy.york.ac.uk/aster. The ASTER Project, funded through the UK Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP) phase 3, aimed to explore how Communication and Information Technology (C&IT) can assist students and lecturers in making the most of small group-based learning and to promote and support effective change in educational practice. Our conclusions and findings, based on the use of Virtual Seminars within a Higher Education Psychology department, suggest the need for increased financial support for additional staff development and training in the use of C&IT. It was also established that there is a need for tutors to maintain full support for students in the move to an increased use of technology in their learning.

Perceptions of Academic Quality and Approaches to Studying among Disabled and Nondisabled Students in Distance Education

There is little systematic evidence on the experience of disabled students in higher education. In this study, equal numbers of disabled and nondisabled students taking courses with the UK Open University were surveyed with regard to their approaches to studying and perceptions of the academic quality of their courses. Students with dyslexia or other specific learning difficulties, students with mental health difficulties and students with fatigue were more likely to exhibit a surface approach, and less likely to exhibit organised studying, than were nondisabled students. In the first two groups, this was associated with lower ratings of the quality of their courses. Nevertheless, the differences were not large, either in absolute terms or in the proportion of variance in the students’ scores that they explained. The impact of disability on students’ perceptions of the academic quality of their courses and on their approaches to studying appears to be relatively slight.

Would you rather collect data in the rain or attend a virtual field trip? Findings from a series of virtual science field studies

Virtual field trips open new possibilities for instructional designers to create more interactive worlds for learners. Three virtual field trips are examined which have all been developed for the Open University undergraduate science courses and make clever and innovative use of QuickTime Virtual Reality to allow students to enter three contrasting environments. Learning gains have been ascertained from pre- and post-test cognitive change scores. Perceived learning was also measured with a post experience questionnaire. The findings are interesting in that students felt they learnt more from the virtual environment than standing in the cold identifying biological samples. However, when it came to dealing with rock samples, students wanted to handle the real thing. This paper describes the advantages and disadvantages of using virtual science field trips and suggests the fine-tuning of feedback to students requires careful consideration in these types of virtual learning environments.

Evaluating electronic resources: Personal Development Planning resources at the Open University, a case study

This paper discusses the evaluation of Web‐based tools to support Personal Development Planning (PDP) in order to illustrate issues associated with the introduction and assessment of the effectiveness of online resources. The aims of the evaluation were based on concerns about the very complex situation that offering online resources including PDP poses for part‐time off‐campus students. In this paper the authors utilize a modified RUFDATA framework (Saunders, 2000) and consider the benefits a range of methods, including surveys and observational studies, can offer evaluations of electronic resources. They found that students used and valued some aspects of the provision but that even with best efforts of instructional designers, and user testing at the draft stage, students do not always behave as intended. This evaluation highlighted the need for a range of strategies for evaluating online resources and that regardless of student attitude there are real worries about eLearning imposing extra workload burdens on ‘time poor’ adults.

Initial requirements of deaf students for video: lessons learned from an evaluation of a digital video application

This paper reports the findings from an observational study of a digital video library system, DiVA, involving deaf students and students with other medical conditions affecting their use of video material. The Digital Video Applications (DiVA) system supports searching for and playing educational videos, and displays transcripts of the audio track alongside the video. Seven disabled students were observed while they watched nine video clips and then interviewed on their opinions of the system. The study is set within a context of an increasing focus on access to educational technology for disabled students motivated by recent changes in disability discrimination law. The findings of this study confirm the recommendations of existing guidelines that video material should be subtitled for deaf students, and that subtitles should conform to existing standards. It is acknowledged that subtitles may not be available on legacy video material and that transcripts may be a feasible alternative. This paper makes recommendations for the display of transcripts in digital video applications such as DiVA. It also emphasizes that disabled students have a range of different, and sometimes conflicting, needs and therefore the presence and display of subtitles or transcripts should be offered as options rather than by default.

OLA! A Scenario-Based Approach to Enhance Open Learning Through Accessibility

Open Educational Resources (OER) and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) have not developed with an inherent capacity to attend to the needs of disabled students. In our research, we aim to understand the social, contextual and organisational issues behind these inadequacies. Through this, interventions and best practices can be developed to improve the situation.