Digital tools for blended learning

1. Digital tools for blended learning m.j.jeffries@ex.ac.uk kate.e.watson@ex.ac.uk

2. The context Undergraduate degree programme Education Studies Childhood and Youth Studies First year shared core module: ICT and Learning in the 21st Century 15 credits, second semester

3. The students Predominantly white middle class school leavers 2006-07: 92 students 2007-08: 92 students 85% female Variation in ICT confidence/competence

4. The module 15 credits Blended learning Lecture series (12 weeks: 10 F2F + 2 online sessions) Technologies for learning (informal and formal) Games and Learning Virtual worlds Collaborative e-learning E-world issues Personalised learning and digital technology Post-lecture online discussions replaced face-to-face seminars

6. Module assessment 25% - contribution to online discussions 75% - digital concept map on chosen theme from list of five 1st year modules: formative; progression only

7. The tools WebCT • course resources • discussion groups • blogs Wiki Email SMS messages (txttools.co.uk) Concept mapping software (cmap.ihmc.us/)

8. Initial survey • Engage with the subject using ICT • Entry point survey/ exit survey

9. Online Activity • The two cohorts were mixed and grouped • 16 groups of 5-6 students • Weekly questions following from topic • Discuss in small groups (online) and agree collective response • Posted to forum and shared • Commented and feedback

10. Online responses • Quality of the postings and responses was high • Suggested word length of 150-250 words but many exceeded this • References were included • More than one question each week • Students regularly sustained discussion well into subsequent weeks topic

11. Diversity of posting • Supported each other in the ‘Technical Topic’ • Assessment anxieties – Concept maps were new to almost all of the students • Additional technologies introduced – collaborative spaces

12. Use of Tools • A number of groups explored using Wiki as a way of formulating a response • Showed good use of collaborative tools (wiki includes a section for discussion) • Connect wasn’t apparently adopted • SMS & IM – may well have been used amongst each other – left to groups to organise their own communications

13. Feedback on blended working

14. Comments on working online • A new learning experience. interesting to know others views on the discussion topic • I thought it was good at allowing discussions among people who may not have contributed in seminars • Very useful, helped to show a different way of working in discussions. • Very helpful when reviewing the course and get the latest information • Was really good for finding out what was going on if you were stuck

15. Comments on working online • When motivated it was extremely interesting and enjoyed commenting and writing opinions on WebCT, however I found it easy to forget because there was no face to face discussion • Easy to use but unreliable dependent on internet connection and other students • it took a while to work sometimes which was annoying but was interesting and fun

16. Comments on working online • I found this time consuming and frustrating when other group members did not contribute • It was hard as a lot of people harly ever contributed so it was hard to get hold of them online • I found there was often too much to follow on WebCT and I wasn't interested in using it

17. Students views on feedback

18. Concept maps • Helped me plan my work + think critically although needed more tutor backup • Helpful to know that essays may be improved by using them • Initially i was confused but i attended the workshop which was really useful • I found concept maps the most interesting part of the course • I found the idea of concept mapping quite a challenge, being limited in ICT skills & patience! But the assignment proved easy enough to do. • The positives were outweighed by the negatives - was not good as a form of assessment

19. Concept maps • Difficult to grasp concept at first. However, found very beneficial to my learning. • Was an interesting way of putting ideas together-good change from essays. • Found cmaps really easy to do after much concern. Think they will be useful in future. • It was easy to use but didn't really see the point of it

22. SMS Feedback 23 positive it was helpful to be updated on when lectures and workshops were happening very useful - would like it for all subjects I thought it was useful for alerting us as to changes in lecture times & when online discussions were up on WebCT 8 negative I barely received any - those that I did were not useful pointless as I know my timetable Strategic use next time Alert students to question of the weekprior to lectureAlerts about topical TV and Radio programmes Specific follow up questions arising fromthe topic of the week

23. Thoughts at this stage • Majority of students appreciate new experiences but some find them difficult • Impressive quality of students’ analysis and reflection facilitated by the online environment • How to we engage with the ‘refuseniks’? • Tutor overload meant text tools used for logistics rather than teaching – plan to be more proactive next year (Technical problems with implementation of voting tool) • Tutor time! May be related to structure of WebCT – rather rigid for students. Elgg?