Harvey Mellar

A Methodology for the Analysis of Patterns of Participation within Computer Mediated Communication Courses.

In this study we propose a methodology for the analysis of text based interchanges on computer mediated conferences which is based on Speech Act theory and which takes the illocutionary act as its unit of analysis. This methodology is used to compare messages from two different conferences — one based on methods for fostering learner independence and one based around a guest speaker seminar — and to show the differing patterns of interaction provoked by the differing task designs.

Quality enhancement for e-learning courses: The role of student feedback

The collection of student feedback is seen as a central strategy to monitor the quality and standards of teaching and learning in higher education institutions. The increasing use of technology to support face-to-face, blended and distance courses has led managers as well as practitioners to become increasingly concerned to identify appropriate ways of assuring the quality of this e-learning provision. This paper presents a study of the collection of student feedback in higher education e-learning courses and the use of this feedback for quality assurance and enhancement. We carried out a series of case studies of the procedures in place in four e-learning courses, and in each case study we collected the quality assurance documentation and interviewed stakeholders (administrators, educational technologists, tutors and students). The comparative examination of these two sets of data showed that the main strategies for collecting student feedback - module evaluations and student representation - were both strongly affected by the distinctive features of the mode of delivery in e-learning courses, and as a consequence they were not able to adequately support quality enhancement. The remote location of the students impacted on both student representation and on the response rates for module evaluations. The enhancement function of the module evaluations were adversely affected by lack of appropriate course management arising from the disaggregation of course processes and the resulting ambiguity in the allocation of responsibilities.

Exploring formative e‐assessment: using case stories and design patterns

This article presents key findings from a Joint Information Systems Committee‐funded project, which aimed to identify existing practices where technologies contribute to formative assessment and identify processes that take place around formative assessment where technologies play a significant role. Using a design pattern methodology, the project developed a range of cases of formative e‐assessment with practitioners across a variety of settings through a series of participant workshops. From a selection of these cases, we identified key elements in how practitioners described the problems and solutions they addressed regarding assessment in relation to learning within their different contexts. The patterns were analysed to highlight aspects of them, which are considered critical in theoretical analyses of formative assessment. We provide an overview of the project and discuss an illustrative case and pattern, followed by an analysis which suggests the particular contribution of technologies to formative assessment. Ultimately, for assessment to have formative effects, tutors and students can be identified as appropriating both social and technological resources in learning situations and engaging with both to learn how to take control over learning experiences.

Flexible learning in higher education: the use of computer-mediated communications

Abstract This paper arises from a workshop at the CAL 93 conference. It attempts to crystallize some reflections on experience, rather than reporting the outcomes of a research study. The workshop was based on accounts from Lancaster University and the Institute of Education at London University that have been making significant use of computer-mediated communications (CMC) in their teaching. Several participants in the workshop also contributed some thoughts about their own experience of CMC, whether as a learner or a course-provider. These have found their way into our thinking and into this paper. This papers main function is as a stimulus to thinking about some key issues that have to be addressed if one is attempting to use CMC technology to support more flexible patterns of teaching and learning in higher education, such as group cohesion, modes of discourse, and human-to-human interaction.

Educational tools for computational modelling

Abstract The paper reports both a theoretical analysis and a comparison of educational tools for computational modelling, and describes three prototype tools developed in the Programme for use in empirical studies of children reasoning with the aid of computational tools, together with an outline of the result obtained by using the tools with children.

Reasoning supported by computational tools

Abstract This paper sets out the work of the Tools for Exploratory Learning Programme within the ESRC Initiative Information Technology in Education. The research examines young secondary childrens reasoning with computational tools. We distinguish between exploratory and expressive modes of learning, that is, interaction with anothers model and creation of ones own model, respectively. The research focuses on reasoning, rather than learning, along three dimensions: quantitative, qualitative, and semi-quantitative. It provides a 3 × 2 classification of tasks according to modes of learning and types of reasoning. Modelling tools were developed for the study and descriptions of these are given. The research examined childrens reasoning with tools in all three dimensions looking more exhaustively at the semi-quantitative. Pupils worked either in an exploratory mode or an expressive mode on one of the following topics: Traffic, Health and Diet, and Shops and Profits. They spent 3–4 h individually with a researcher over 2 weeks, carrying out four different activities: reasoning without the computer; learning to manipulate first the computer then later the tool and finally carrying out a task with the modelling tool. Pupils were between 12 and 14 yr. Research questions both about childrens reasoning when working with or creating models and about the nature of the tools used are discussed. Finally an analytic scheme is set out which describes the nature of the causal and non-causal reasoning observed together with some tentative results.

Playing the literacy game: a case study in adult education

Runner is a high‐quality educational game designed by the University for Industry (UfI/learndirect) to attract young adults who find learning in formal educational contexts difficult. A case study evaluation of this novel application of an adventure game genre to literacy learning is discussed, based on observations and interviews in three UK learning centres. We argue that (1) the success of this game in engaging with the target population calls for its consideration as an acceptable learning approach in an otherwise rather unimaginative curriculum world and (2) that learners made significant literacies gains beyond those expected by the game designers, UfI and the learners themselves.

Factors affecting quality enhancement procedures for e‐learning courses

Purpose – This paper reports on an empirical study exploring the way in which campus‐based higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK apply their internal quality assurance and enhancement (QA/QE) procedures to their e‐learning courses. The purpose of this paper is to identify those characteristics of e‐learning courses which affected the capacity of these procedures to assure and enhance the quality of courses.Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach is selected as most appropriate for an in‐depth examination of the features of the courses as well as the way in which the procedures are applied. Two sets of data are collected and analysed from each of four e‐learning courses: QA documentation and interviews with stakeholders.Findings – It is found that the main factors impacting on the effectiveness of the QA procedures are: the organisational position that these courses had within their institutions; the distributed configuration of course, teams; the disaggregated processes that character...

Practical Design Patterns for Teaching and Learning with Technology

These are challenging times in which to be an educator. The constant flow of innovation offers new opportunities to support learners in an environment of ever-shifting demands. Educators work as they have always done: making the most of the resources at hand, and dealing with constraints, to provide experiences which foster growth. This was John Dewey’s ideal of education 80 years ago and it is still relevant today. This view sees education as a practice that achieves its goals through creative processes involving both craft and design. Craft is visible in the resources that educators produce and in their interactions with learners. Design, though, is tacit, and educators are often unaware of their own design practices. The rapid pace of change is shifting the balance from craft to design, requiring that educators’ design work become visible, shareable and malleable. The participatory patterns workshop is a method for doing this through engaging practitioners in collaborative reflection leading to the production of structured representations of design knowledge. The editors have led many such workshops and this book is a record of that endeavour and its outcomes in the form of practical design narratives, patterns and scenarios that can be used to address challenges in teaching and learning with technology.In order to reduce guessing in multiple choice question tests and to reduce effort in test construction construct the test so that the ratio of correct answers is comparatively high (e.g. 50%) and distribute correct answers unevenly (that is a question may have zero, one, or more than one correct answer options).

Informed choice? How the United Kingdom’s key information set fails to represent pedagogy to potential students

Abstract This paper explores the ways in which information about course pedagogy has been represented to potential students through national descriptors and specifications such as the United Kingdom’s Key Information Set. It examines the extent to which such descriptors provide helpful information about pedagogy, for example innovative uses of technology. The paper starts by exploring the wider context within which these descriptors have been developed, including a comparison of similar descriptions internationally. This is followed by a comparative analysis, in which two courses (one single honours undergraduate degree, one Massive Open Online Course) are classified and compared. This serves to illustrate the blind spots in classifications such as the Key Information Set. The paper concludes by arguing that further work is needed to develop classification schemes that both address explicitly the interests of potential students and are able to represent the pedagogic decisions that differentiate teaching in contemporary higher education.