Howard Spoelstra

Team formation instruments to enhance learner interactions in open learning environments

Facilitating team formation for project-based learning in MOOCs.Team formation model describing the project definition and team formation process.Validated principles and algorithms for automated formation of teams. Open learning environments, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), often lack adequate learner collaboration opportunities; they are also plagued by high levels of drop-out. Introducing project-based learning (PBL) can enhance learner collaboration and motivation, but PBL does not easily scale up into MOOCS. To support definition and staffing of projects, team formation principles and algorithms are introduced to form productive, creative, or learning teams. These use data on the project and on learner knowledge, personality and preferences. A study was carried out to validate the principles and the algorithms. Students (n=168) and educational practitioners (n=56) provided the data. The principles for learning teams and productive teams were accepted, while the principle for creative teams could not. The algorithms were validated using team classifying tasks and team ranking tasks. The practitioners classify and rank small productive, creative and learning teams in accordance with the algorithms, thereby validating the algorithms outcomes. When team size grows, for practitioners, forming teams quickly becomes complex, as demonstrated by the increased divergence in ranking and classifying accuracy. Discussion of the results, conclusions, and directions for future research are provided.

Convergence and translation: attitudes to inter-professional learning and teaching of creative problem-solving among medical and engineering students and staff.

BackgroundHealthcare worldwide needs translation of basic ideas from engineering into the clinic. Consequently, there is increasing demand for graduates equipped with the knowledge and skills to apply interdisciplinary medicine/engineering approaches to the development of novel solutions for healthcare. The literature provides little guidance regarding barriers to, and facilitators of, effective interdisciplinary learning for engineering and medical students in a team-based project context.MethodsA quantitative survey was distributed to engineering and medical students and staff in two universities, one in Ireland and one in Belgium, to chart knowledge and practice in interdisciplinary learning and teaching, and of the teaching of innovation.ResultsWe report important differences for staff and students between the disciplines regarding attitudes towards, and perceptions of, the relevance of interdisciplinary learning opportunities, and the role of creativity and innovation. There was agreement across groups concerning preferred learning, instructional styles, and module content. Medical students showed greater resistance to the use of structured creativity tools and interdisciplinary teams.ConclusionsThe results of this international survey will help to define the optimal learning conditions under which undergraduate engineering and medicine students can learn to consider the diverse factors which determine the success or failure of a healthcare engineering solution.

Bridging the Gap between Instructional Design and Double Loop Learning

Spoelstra, H., Matera, M., Rusman, E., Van Bruggen, J., & Koper, R. (2006). Bridging the gap between instructional design and double loop learning. Proceedings of IV International Conference on Multimedia and Information and Communication Technologies in Education (m-ICTE2006). November, 22-25, 2006, Seville, Spain.

Use of a group concept mapping approach to define learning outcomes for an interdisciplinary module in medicine

Learning outcomes are typically developed using standard group-based consensus methods. Two main constraints with standard techniques such as the Delphi method or expert working group processes are: (1) the ability to generate a comprehensive set of outcomes and (2) the capacity to reach agreement on them. We describe the first application of Group Concept Mapping (GCM) to the development of learning outcomes for an interdisciplinary module in medicine and engineering. The biomedical design module facilitates undergraduate participation in clinician-mentored team-based projects that prepare students for a multidisciplinary work environment. GCM attempts to mitigate the weaknesses of other consensus methods by excluding pre-determined classification schemes and inter-coder discussion, and by requiring just one round of data structuring. Academic members from medicine and engineering schools at three EU higher education institutions participated in this study. Data analysis, which included multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis, identified two main categories of outcomes: technical skills (new advancement in design process with special attention to users, commercialization and standardization) and transversal skills such as working effectively in teams and creative problem solving. The study emphasizes the need to address the highest order of learning taxonomy (analysis, synthesis, problem solving, creativity) when defining learning outcomes.

Flexible processes in project-centred learning

Project-centred learning is increasingly used both in academia and in companies; universities train students to master complex tasks, often suggested by real-life situations, while companies train users to learn about new products, methods, technologies. This paper introduces a model-driven, extensible environ-ent, delivered on the Web, which is able to support long-distance collaboration of teams working on complex projects. The main merit of this proposal is the ability to self-organize processes, by using a simple Web interface and a library of activities and templates which cover most of the needs of this well-defined class of applications. This paradigm for dynamic workflow management is very general and can be applied to other application contexts, after understanding and modelling the relevant collaboration activities and templates.

Verder bouwen aan de kwaliteit van het leernetwerk

In het eerste hoofdstuk van dit boek is gesteld dat leernetwerken diverse doelen kunnen dienen. Een leernetwerk kan ondersteuning bieden aan vaste groepen professionals die van elkaar willen leren over specifieke onderwerpen, maar ook aan wisselende groepen professionals die alleen behoefte hebben om actuele kennis en ervaring uit te wisselen. Leernetwerken kunnen verschillend georganiseerd zijn: ze kunnen top-down ontworpen en geregisseerd worden, maar ze kunnen ook spontaan ontstaan en groeien. Binnen leernetwerken kunnen verschillende regels gelden en kunnen verschillende gebruikersrollen voorkomen.