Simon Cross

Net generation or Digital Natives: Is there a distinct new generation entering university?

This article reports key findings from the first phase of a research project investigating Net generation age students as they encounter e-learning at five universities in England. We take a critical view of the idea of a distinct generation which has been described using various terms including Net generation and Digital Natives and explore age related differences amongst first year university students. The article draws on evidence from a survey of first year undergraduates studying a range of pure and applied subjects. Overall we found a complex picture amongst first-year students with the sample population appearing to be a collection of minorities. These included a small minority that made little use of some technologies and larger minorities that made extensive use of new technologies. Often the use of new technology was in ways that did not fully correspond with the expectations that arise from the Net generation and Digital Natives theses. The article concludes that whilst there are strong age related variations amongst the sample it is far to simplistic to describe young first-year students born after 1983 as a single generation. The authors find that the generation is not homogenous in its use and appreciation of new technologies and that there are significant variations amongst students that lie within the Net generation age band.

Visualising learning design to foster and support good practice and creativity

Technologies offer tantalising possibilities for new forms of educational innovation, but we have argued that there is a gap between the potential of technologies to support learning and the reality of how they are actually used, and that this is due to a lack of understanding about how technologies can be used to afford specific learning advantages and to a lack of appropriate guidance at the design stage. This paper describes a project that has developed an approach to using learning design as a methodology to guide design and foster creativity in concert with good practice in the creation of learning activities. The paper will provide an overview of the work being undertaken by the Open University, UK Learning Design project; concentrating on the work we have done to represent and visualise design. Se représenter la conception de l’apprentissage pour développer et soutenir les bonnes pratiques et la créativité Les technologies offrent des possibilités séduisantes pour créer de nouvelles formes d’innovation éducative, mais nous avons souligné qu’il y a un fossé entre l’appui que ces technologies sont susceptibles d’apporter à l’apprentissage et la réalité des pratiques effectives, ce qui est dû à un manque de compréhension de la façon dont les technologies peuvent être employées pour offrir des gains d’apprentissage substantiels ainsi qu’à un manque d’orientation appropriée lors de la phase de conception. Cet article décrit un projet dans lequel on a mis au point une approche visant à utiliser la conception de l’apprentissage comme méthodologie pour guider la conception et développer la créativité, de concert avec une bonne pratique de la création d’activités d’apprentissage. Cet article présente une vue d’ensemble du travail entrepris dans le cadre du projet britannique de Conception de l’Apprentissage de l’Open University, en se concentrant sur le travail que nous avons effectué pour représenter et rendre visible la conception. Veranschaulichung von Lernentwürfen zur Unterstützung von „good practice” und Kreativität Technologie bietet vielversprechende Möglichkeiten neuer Formen pädagogischer Innovation. Wir müssen jedoch feststellen, dass zwischen dem Potential von diesen Möglichkeiten Gebrauch beim Lernen zu machen und der tatsächlichen Nutzung in der Praxis ein Graben herrscht. Dies liegt sowohl am mangelnden Verständnis, wie Technologie erfolgreich eingesetzt werden kann um Lernfortschritte zu ermöglichen, als auch an der nicht stattfindenden Anleitung während der Entwurfsphase. In diesem Artikel wird ein Projekt vorgestellt, in dem ein Verfahren entwickelt wurde, das Lernentwürfe zur Anleitung und zur Pflege von Kreativität zusammen mit „good practice” und der Entwicklung von Lernaktivitäten einsetzt. Der Artikel berichtet im Überblick über den Stand der Arbeit, die an der Open University UK Learning Design Projekt ausgeführt wird, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Entwurfsvisualisierung und ‐veranschaulichung. Visualizar el diseño del aprendizaje para fomentar y sostener buenas prácticas y la creatividad. Las TICs ofrecen posibilidades tentadoras conduciendo a nuevas formas de inovación educativa pero hemos argumentado que hay una brecha entre el potencial de las tecnologías para sostener el aprendizaje y la realidad de los usos reales, esto siendo el resultado de una falta de comprensión de los modos en que se puede utilizar esas tecnologías para proporcionar ventajas específicas en el aprendizaje y también de una falta de orientación adecuada en la fase de diseño. Este artículo describe un proyecto en el cual se ha desarrollado un enfoque para utilizar el diseño del aprendizaje como metodología para dirigir el diseño y fomentar la creatividad en consonancia con buenas prácticas en la creación de actividades de aprendizaje. Este artículo ofrece una visión de conjunto del trabajo que está siendo llevado a cabo dentro del proyecto Diseño para el Aprendizaje de la Open University del Reino Unido, haciendo hincapié en el trabajo que hemos hecho para representar y visualizar el diseño.

Implementing a Learning Analytics Intervention and Evaluation Framework: What Works?

Substantial progress in learning analytics research has been made in recent years to predict which groups of learners are at risk. In this chapter, we argue that the largest challenge for learning analytics research and practice still lies ahead of us: using learning analytics modelling, which types of interventions have a positive impact on learners’ Attitudes, Behaviour and Cognition (ABC). Two embedded case-studies in social science and science are discussed, whereby notions of evidence-based research are illustrated by scenarios (quasi-experimental, A/B-testing, RCT) to evaluate the impact of interventions. Finally, we discuss how a Learning Analytics Intervention and Evaluation Framework (LA-IEF) is currently being implemented at the Open University UK using principles of design-based research and evidence-based research.

Reviewing three case-studies of learning analytics interventions at the open university UK

This study provides a conceptual framework how organizations may adopt evidence-based interventions at scale, and how institutions may evaluate the costs and benefits of such interventions. Building on a new conceptual model developed by the Open University UK (OU), we will analyse three case-studies of evidence-based interventions. By working with 90+ large-scale modules for a period of two years across the five faculties and disciplines within the OU, Analytics4Action provides a bottom-up-approach for working together with key stakeholders within their respective contexts. Using principles of embedded case-study approaches by Yin [1], by comparing the learning behavior, satisfaction and performance of 11079 learners the findings indicated that each of the three learning designs led to satisfied students and average to good student retention. In the second part we highlighted that the three module teams made in-presentation interventions based upon real-time analytics, whereby initial user data indicated VLE behaviour in line with expectations. In 2-5 years, we hope that a rich, robust evidence-base will be presented to show how learning analytics can help teachers to make informed, timely and successful interventions that will help learners to achieve their learning outcomes.

Making sense of learner and learning Big Data: reviewing five years of Data Wrangling at the Open University UK

ABSTRACT Most distance learning institutions collect vast amounts of learning data. Making sense of this ‘Big Data’ can be a challenge, in particular when data are stored at different data warehouses and require advanced statistical skills to interpret complex patterns of data. As a leading institute on learning analytics, the Open University UK instigated in 2012 a Data Wrangling initiative. This provided every Faculty with a dedicated academic with expertise data analysis and whose task is to provide strategic, pedagogical and sense-making advice to staff and senior management. Given substantial changes within the OU (e.g. new Faculty structure, real-time dashboards, two large-scale adoptions of predictive analytics approaches, increased reliance on analytics), this embedded case study provides an in-depth review of lessons learned of five years of data wrangling. We will elaborate on the design of the new structure, its strengths and potential weaknesses, and affordances to be adopted by other institutions.

Reflections on Developing a Tool for Creating Visual Representations of Learning Designs

CompendiumLD is a software tool for designing learning activities using a flexible visual interface. It has been developed as a tool to support lecturers, teachers and others involved in education to help them articulate their ideas and map out a design or learning sequence. This development has spanned 4 years, and the development process we have engaged in has served as a vehicle through which we have been able to better understand how educators relate to and use visual representations of learning designs.

Similarity and Difference in Fee-Paying and No-Fee Learner Expectations, Interaction and Reaction to Learning in a Massive Open Online Course.

ABSTRACT The new pedagogical opportunities that massive open online course (MOOC) learning environments offer for the teaching of fee-paying students on university-accredited courses are of growing interest to educators. This paper presents a case study from a postgraduate-taught course at the Open University, UK, where a MOOC performed the dual role of a core teaching vehicle for fee-paying students and also as a “free-to-join” course for open learners. An analysis of survey data revealed differences between the two groups in respect to prior experience, knowledge, expectations and planned time commitment. The nature and experience of interaction was also examined. Fee-paying student feedback revealed four conditions in which MOOCs could be considered a pedagogic option for taught-course designers. These are: when there is a subject need; when used to achieve learning outcomes; when there is acknowledgement or compensation for the financial disparity; and when issues of transition and interaction are supported.